Satoko Okazaki

Satoko Okazaki
岡崎聡子
Born (1961-01-13) 13 January 1961 (age 65)
Gymnastics career
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
Country represented
Retired1978

Satoko Okazaki (岡崎 聡子, Okazaki Satoko; born 13 January 1961) is a Japanese former artistic gymnast. She competed in six events at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Career

Okazaki began ballet lessons at age 3 and gymnastics at age 9. Her mother had wanted to be a dancer or gymnast herself, but was not able to train in post-World War II Japan. Her younger sister was also a gymnast.

As a junior, she won the 1974 International Junior Championships and placed 6th the next year.

Okazaki won the vault title at the 1975 All-Japan Championships. The next year, she won the uneven bars and balance beam titles, as well as the all-around. She also won the 1976 NHK Trophy.

At just 15 years old, she won the selection meet for the 1976 Summer Olympics; she was the second-youngest member of the team, with teammate Sakiko Nozawa being 14 at the time. At the Olympics, the media nicknamed her the "Japanese Comăneci". She finished 30th in the all-around final and 8th with the Japanese team.

The year after, she won the national balance beam and floor titles. She won a second NHK title that year as well. After winning another national uneven bars title in 1978, Okazaki retired due to injuries.

Post-gymnastics career

After her competitive career, Okazaki became a television personality. In the 1980s, she traveled around Japan to popularize aerobics.

Personal life

Okazaki has a son and a daughter with her first husband, who she married in 1984.

She has struggled with substance use disorder. She first started using drugs while studying aerobics in Los Angeles, and she continued to use them after returning to Japan. Between 1995 and 2009, she was arrested for methamphetamine use five times and spent 10 years imprisoned in total. She wrote a memoir while imprisoned, where she described the drug-related education she and other inmates received in prison and expressed doubt that it was helpful. By 2019, she had been arrested 14 times, although not all arrests led to indictments, and both of her parents died while she was in detention or prison. In 2019, her prison diary was published in the magazine Sou, where it received a large response. During her sentencing, she committed to seeking treatment with aid from organizations that specialize in substance use disorder, and after she was released, she began focusing on treatment.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Shinoda, Hiroyuki (16 November 2019). "大反響だった元体操五輪・岡崎聡子さん獄中薬物手記を改めて全文公開する" [The full text of former Olympic gymnast Satoko Okazaki's prison drug diary, which received a huge response, is being republished.]. Yahoo!ニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 7 November 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 Shinoda, Haruyuki (20 June 2019). "薬物逮捕の元体操五輪代表・岡崎聡子さんが面会室で語ったことと獄中手記" [What Former Olympic Gymnast Satoko Okazaki Said in the Visiting Room and Her Prison Diary After Drug Arrest]. Yahoo!ニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 7 November 2026.
  3. ↑ "1976 Intl. Junior Champs. - Women's AA & EF". Gymn Forum. Retrieved 7 November 2026.
  4. ↑ "1975 Intl. Junior Champs. - Women's AA & EF". Gymn Forum. Retrieved 7 November 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 "全日本選手権大会歴代女子種目別優勝者" [All Japan Championships: Past winners of individual women's events] (PDF). Japan Gymnastics Association (in Japanese). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2018.
  6. ↑ "全日本選手権大会歴代優勝チーム・個人総合優勝者" [All Japan Championships: Past winning teams and individual overall winners] (PDF). Japan Gymnastics Association (in Japanese). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2019.
  7. 1 2 "ＮＨＫ杯歴代獲得者" [List of past winners of the NHK Trophy] (PDF). Japan Gymnastics Association (in Japanese). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2019.
  8. ↑ "14-Year-Old Girl Makes Olympic Gymnastic Team". Hokubei Mainichi Newspaper. 1 May 1976. p. 5. Retrieved 7 November 2026.
  9. ↑ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Satoko Okazaki Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  10. 1 2 "元五輪体操選手の岡崎聡子容疑者、覚醒剤でまた逮捕　過去に５度有罪" [Former Olympic Gymnast Satoko Okazaki Arrested Again for Methamphetamine Use; Previously Convicted Five Times]. msn産経ニュース (in Japanese). 18 February 2013. Archived from the original on 9 June 2013.
  11. 1 2 "「釈放から20日で逮捕」 岡崎聡子が輝いていた頃" ["Arrested 20 Days After Release": The Shining Days of Satoko Okazaki]. Daily Shincho (in Japanese). 26 June 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2026.
  12. ↑ "【岡崎聡子獄中手記】薬物で服役して一番辛かったこと" [[Satoko Okazaki's Prison Diary] The hardest thing about being in prison for drug offenses]. 創 (in Japanese). November 2009. Archived from the original on 18 September 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2026.
  13. ↑ Shinoda, Haruyuki (21 September 2023). "「加害者家族」支援に本格的に取り組む契機？９月29日の関東弁護士会連合会のシンポと大会" [A turning point in seriously engaging in support for "families of perpetrators"? The Kanto Federation of Bar Associations' symposium and conference on September 29th]. Yahoo!ニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 8 November 2026.