NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Aiko Sugihara emerged as an unexpected winner on the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games gymnastics floor after injuries and temporarily stepping away from competition had disrupted the 27-year-old's career.
Sugihara edged China's favorite Ke Qinqin to become the first Japanese woman to win the Asian Games women's all-around title and also took a floor exercise gold medal.
Standing on the Nagoya podium between two 16-year-olds, Sugihara answered everyone who thought her time had passed.
"I like to think I've been able to prove that you can have success in gymnastics in your late 20s," she said, competing through years of scoliosis and recurring ligament injuries. "My message is, don't compare yourself to others and take it one step at a time in your own way. By doing that over and over, it is possible to build it back up, so don't give up."
Sugihara began gymnastics at the age of four and developed a reputation for her twisting skills, earning the nickname "Twist Princess." She won the Asian all-around and team titles at 16 and had a balance beam skill named after her.
She missed her home Olympics due to left knee surgery and stepped away from competition a year later. Although she managed to return in 2023 in a bid to compete at the Olympics, she traveled to Paris only as an alternate.
It might have broken a lesser competitor but not Sugihara. She returned to Japan's main lineup in 2025 and won the NHK Cup for the first time in a decade, marking the longest gap between her NHK Cup titles. At the world championships in Jakarta later that year, she won the first world medals of her career at the age of 26, including Japan's first women's floor exercise world title since 2021.
In Nagoya, however, she was still the underdog - a 27-year-old chasing an all-around title China had never once lost.
"I didn't look at my overall score," she said. "I'm the type who, if I look at my score, I can't perform well. I only focus on the apparatus that I am doing and don't worry about my score. That's how I was able to really enjoy this sport of gymnastics that I love."
After a team silver one day later, she has already turned to the world championships in Rotterdam in October, vowing to turn that silver into gold.
As for the Los Angeles Games in 2028, when she would be just under 29, Sugihara stays carefully positive, knowing how brutal the road is.
"I've been telling everyone I'm being positive about it without outright saying that I want to go," she said. "I'm just trying to take it one step at a time, and if LA is there as a result of that, I couldn't be happier." ■
