Gymnast Sugihara: quitting at 22, champion at 27

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."