In the midst of a resurgent season, Sugihara Aiko credits “perspective”
Next month, when two-time Japanese Olympian Sugihara Aiko competes at the World Championships, it will be her first appearance at the event since 2019.
In fact, since the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the 25-year-old had competed internationally just once – at the 2024 Baku World Cup.
But 2025 has seen her take golds at both the Antalya World Cup and the Asian Championships. Domestically, she’s also claimed the top spot at the All-Japan Championships in April and the recent All-Japan Senior Championships earlier this month.
“Through experience, my perspective has broadened and my way of thinking has changed. Rather than simply aiming for victory, I wanted to perform in a way that satisfied me, and enjoying myself led to this result,” Sugihara said, according to Number. “This wasn’t a win I achieved on my own—it came thanks to the support around me and the encouragement of fans. That’s what I felt so strongly in this victory after 10 years.”
Beyond perspective, there’s been another change in her mindset: training smarter.
“In my teens, training was about quantity over quality,” said Sugihara. “Now I focus on both, while preventing injury. In high school, I just did what my coach told me, but at university I learned to think for myself. Now I can think, understand, and even teach. That’s helped me discover more and more joy in gymnastics.”