Elena Shinohara (born April 6, 2000) is a Japanese-born American

rhythmic gymnast Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform individually or in groups on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon and rope. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, fle ...

and

social media personality A social media influencer, or simply influencer (also known as an online influencer), is a person who builds a grassroots online presence through engaging content such as photos, videos, and updates. This is done by using direct audience intera ...

. She was a member of the U.S. National Rhythmic Gymnastics Team.

Personal life

Elena Shinohara was born in Japan on April 6, 2000. She moved with her family to the United States when she was five months old. Her mother, Nancy Shinohara, is a former member of the Japanese national rhythmic gymnastics team, and she coaches Elena. She graduated from

Collins Hill High School Collins Hill High School is a public high school in Gwinnett County, near Suwanee, Georgia, United States. The school is operated by Gwinnett County Public Schools. The only school which feeds into it is Creekland Middle School. Collins Hill w ...

in 2018. She graduated from

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

, and she majored in

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

. She planned on becoming a

dermatologist Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin.''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.'' Random House, Inc. 2001. Page 537. . It is a speciality with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist is a specialist medi ...

after her gymnastics career is over. Her father, Minoru Shinohara, runs the Human Neuromuscular Physiology Laboratory at Georgia Tech. Elena resides in California as of 2023.

Gymnastics career

Shinohara is the only elite-level rhythmic gymnast in the state of Georgia. She was named to the Junior U.S. National team in 2015. Shinohara made her international debut at the 2018 Luxembourg Cup. She placed fourth in the

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but sometimes ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for s ...

, fifth in the

ribbon A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mate ...

, and seventh in the hoop. She also competed at the 2019 Irina Cup in

Warsaw, Poland Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at 1.86 million residents within a grea ...

where she finished eighth in

clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Club (magazine), ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands a ...

. At the 2019 Amsterdam Masters, she won the silver medal in the all-around and the gold medal in the hoop. At the 2019 National Championships, she finished tenth in the all-around, seventh in clubs and ribbon, and eighth in ball. She was then named to the Senior U.S. National team. She also won the 2019 Sportsperson of the Year Award, which was voted on by the top twelve rhythmic gymnasts at the competition. At the 2020 Rhythmic Challenge in

Lake Placid, New York Lake Placid is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, Essex County, New York (state), New York, United States. In 2020, its population was 2,205. The village of Lake Placid ...

, she finished fifth in the all-around and won the bronze medal in clubs.

Social media

Shinohara posts training and flexibility videos on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

. As of June 2021, she has 4.8 million followers on TikTok. In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May 2021, TikTok named her an API TikTok Trailblazer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shinohara, Elena 2000 births Living people American rhythmic gymnasts American sportspeople of Japanese descent Japanese emigrants to the United States Sportspeople from Suwanee, Georgia Georgia Tech alumni Sportspeople from Saitama (city) Gymnasts from Saitama Prefecture American TikTokers 21st-century American sportswomen