is a Japanese retired

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different types of apparatus. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which assigns the '' Code of Points'' used ...

and

Olympic medal An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold medal, gold, silver medal, silver, and bronze medal, bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respect ...

ist. She is the

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

and 2021 World champion on floor exercise, the 2018 World all-around silver medalist and floor exercise bronze medalist, the 2021 World balance beam bronze medalist, and a four-time Japanese national all-around champion (2016–2018, 2020). She represented Japan at the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and

2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

, winning a bronze medal on

floor exercise In gymnastics, the floor is a specially prepared exercise surface, considered an apparatus. The floor exercise (English abbreviation FX) is the event performed on the floor, in both women's and men's artistic gymnastics (WAG and MAG). The same flo ...

in the latter. This made her the first female Japanese gymnast to win an individual medal at the Olympics.

Personal life

Murakami was born in

Sagamihara is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 723,470, with 334,812 households, and a population density of 1,220 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Sagamihara is the third-most-populous city ...

, Japan and began gymnastics when she was two years old. She attended university at the

Nippon Sport Science University , abbreviated as , is a private university in Setagaya, Tokyo and Aoba-ku, Yokohama. The precursor of the school was founded in 1893, and it was chartered as a university in 1949. The school is known for the many famous athletes among its alumni. ...

in Tokyo.

Career

2012–2013

Murakami made her senior debut at the 2012 National Championships where she placed eleventh in the all-around. She was not named to the 2012 Olympic team. Murakami competed at the 2012 Stuttgart World Cup where Japan finished second to Russia. Murakami competed at the 2013 City of Jesolo Trophy where she won bronze with the Japanese team and placed 22nd in the all-around. She finished third in the all-around at both the National Championships and the NHK Cup. She finished fourth on the

at the 2013 World Championships.

2014–2015

Murakami competed at the 2014 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships placing fourth with the team, sixth on floor, seventh on bars and beam, and ninth in the all-around. She placed sixth in the all-around at the National Championships and fourth at the NHK Cup. At the All Japan Championships, she won gold on floor and silver on vault. She was then selected to compete at the 2014 World Championships along with

Asuka Teramoto is a Japanese gymnast. Gymnastics career Teramoto was born in Komaki, Aichi. Her first major international senior competition was the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo, Japan. In the team all-around finals, she contributed ...

Yu Minobe is a Japanese artistic gymnast. She competed for the national team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the Women's artistic team all-around and the 2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad an ...

Natsumi Sasada is a Japanese artistic gymnast. She was part of the silver medalling team at the 2015 Summer Universiade where she also won a bronze medal in the individual all-around competition. Sasada also competed for Japan in the first ever Youth Olympic ...

, Wakana Inoue, and Azumi Ishikura, and they finished in eighth place. After the World Championships Murakami finished the season by placed fifth in the all-around at the Glasgow World and winning vault and floor at the Toyota International. At the 2015 National Championships, Murakami struggled on beam and floor and placed tenth in the all-around. She placed eighth in the all-around at the NHK Cup, but at the Event Championships she won bronze on vault and gold on floor. Murakami was initially named an alternate for the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

, but an injury led to her joining the team. The Japanese team placed fifth, and she placed sixth in the all-around, the best finish by a Japanese woman in six years.

2016

Murakami competed at the

American Cup The American Football Association Challenge Cup (also known as the American Association Cup or simply American Cup) was the first major U.S. soccer competition open to teams beyond a single league. It was first held in 1884, and organised by t ...

where she placed sixth in the all-around. She then won the all-around at the National Championships in addition to winning gold on floor and bronze on vault and beam. At the NHK Cup, she finished second in the all-around behind

, and she won gold on floor and silver on vault. At the Event National Championships, she won gold on floor exercise and placed fourth on uneven bars. She was then named to represent

Japan at the 2016 Summer Olympics Japan competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Since the nation's official debut in 1912, Japanese athletes had appeared at every Summer Olympic Games in the modern era, except for two editions; the ...

along with

Aiko Sugihara is a Japanese female artistic gymnast. She was the 2015 Asian team and all-around champion and uneven bars and floor exercise silver medalist. She was also the 2019 Summer Universiade champion with the team and silver medalist on the floor exe ...

, Yuki Uchiyama, and

Sae Miyakawa is a Japanese retired artistic gymnast. She represented Japan at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics and won a bronze medal on the vault. She also competed at the 2015 World Championships where she finished fourth on the floor exercise and at the ...

2016 Summer Olympics

Japan competed in the final subdivision of the

qualification round Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

, and they qualified seventh into the team final, and individually Murakami qualified ninth into the all-around and eighth on floor exercise. The team then finished fourth in the team final. Murakami placed fourteenth in the all-around final with a score of 56.665. She then placed seventh in the floor exercise final with a score of 14.533.

2017

Murakami won the all-around at the National Championships in addition to winning gold on beam and floor and winning silver on vault. She also won the all-around at the NHK Cup and won gold on beam and floor and bronze on vault and uneven bars. She was then automatically named to the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

team along with

. She then won silver on floor and placed fifth on vault at the Event National Championships. At the

2017 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships The 2017 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships was the forty-seventh edition of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. The competition was held from October 2–8, 2017, at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The event mark ...

Montreal, Quebec Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Canada, she qualified first into the all-around final, ahead of American gymnast

Ragan Smith Ragan Elizabeth Smith (born August 8, 2000) is a retired American gymnast. She is a five-time member of the US National Team (2014–2019) and competed for the University of Oklahoma in collegiate gymnastics from 2020–2024. She is the 2017 ...

, but had a fall in the finals, and ended up in 4th place, one-tenth of a point behind the bronze medalist, Russia's

Elena Eremina Elena Vyacheslavovna Eremina (, pron. ''Yelena Vyacheslavovna Yeryomina'', born 29 July 2001) is a retired Russian artistic gymnast. She is the 2017 World all-around bronze medalist and the 2016 European junior all-around champion. Personal ...

. She redeemed herself in the

finals, where she placed first ahead of

Jade Carey Jade Ashtyn Carey (born May 27, 2000) is an American artistic gymnast. She represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics as an individual, and at the 2024 Summer Olympics as a member of the U.S. women's team, nicknamed the "Golden Girl ...

and

Claudia Fragapane Claudia Fragapane (born 24 October 1997) is a retired British artistic gymnast. She came to prominence at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where she was the first English woman to win four gold medals in a single Games since 1930. In 2015, Fragapan ...

. She is Japan's first World gold medalist on this event, and Japan's second World gold medalist on any women's gymnastics event, after Keiko Tanaka-Ikeda won the gold on the

balance beam The balance beam is a rectangular artistic gymnastics apparatus and an event performed using the apparatus. The apparatus and the event are sometimes simply called "beam". The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is BB. The bal ...

in 1954. Afterward, she won gold on floor and bronze on vault at the Toyota International.

2018

Murakami finished second at the

behind

Morgan Hurd Morgan Elizabeth Hurd (born July 18, 2001) is a retired American artistic gymnast and a five-time member of the United States women's national team (2016–21). She is the 2017 World all-around champion and balance beam silver medalist and th ...

. She then won the all-around at the Tokyo World Cup. Then, she won the all-around at both the National Championships and the NHK Cup. She won gold on balance beam and floor exercise at the Event National Championships. At the

2018 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships The 2018 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships was the 48th edition of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. The competition was held from October 25 – November 3, 2018, at the Aspire Dome, Aspire Academy Dome in Doha, Doha, Qatar. It ...

Doha, Qatar Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It is also Qatar's ...

the Japanese team finished in sixth place. Individually, she finished second in the all-around final, behind

Simone Biles Simone Arianne Biles Owens ( Biles; born March 14, 1997) is an American Artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast. Her 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals make her the most decorated gymnast in history. She is widely regarded as one ...

. It was the first women’s all-around silver medal in Japan’s history. She then won the bronze medal in the floor exercise final behind Biles and

2019

Murakami won a bronze medal in the all-around at the

behind Americans

Leanne Wong Leanne Ashley Wong (born September 20, 2003) is an American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the gold medal winning teams at the 2022 World Championships, 2023 World Championships, and the 2019 Pan American Games. She is the 2021 Wor ...

and

Grace McCallum Grace Ann McCallum (born October 30, 2002) is an American artistic gymnast. She represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal in the team event. She is the 2018 Pan American and 2018 Pacific Rim individual al ...

. Murakami missed the NHK Cup due to a back injury, but because of this, Murakami was deemed ineligible to make the Japanese team for the

. Murakami's petition was denied.

2020–2021

In February it was announced that Murakami would represent Japan at the Tokyo World Cup taking place on April 4. However the event was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Japan The COVID-19 pandemic in Japan has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths, along with 33,728,878 recoveries. Government of Japan, The Japanese government confirmed the country's first case of the disease on 16 January 2020 in a ...

. Murakami returned to competition in September at the All-Japan Senior Championships, where she won gold in the all-around. In addition, she performed well enough to win medals on each of the individual events, including two additional golds on vault and floor. She next competed at the All-Japan Championships in December. In April 2021, it was announced that she, along with Hatakeda Hitomi, Hiraiwa Yuna and Sugihara Aiko, would represent Japan at Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The team finished in 5th place and Murakami finished 5th in the all-around. On 2 August 2021, Murakami achieved a score of 14.166 for the individual women's floor event and won bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (tied with

Angelina Melnikova Angelina Romanovna Melnikova ( rus, Ангели́на Рома́новна Ме́льникова, , ɐnɡʲɪˈlʲinə ˈmʲelʲnʲɪkəvə; born 18 July 2000) is a Russian artistic gymnast. With eleven Olympic and World medals, she is the j ...

of ROC who also won bronze). She became the first female Japanese gymnast to win an individual medal at the Olympics. This was also only the second time that Japan had won an Olympic medal on any women's gymnastics event, since finishing 3rd in the team competition at the 1964 Olympics which were also held in Tokyo. In October 2021, Murakami competed at the 2021 World Championships, where she won gold on the floor exercise and bronze on the balance beam. After this achievement, she announced her retirement from gymnastics.

Competitive history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murakami, Mai 1996 births Living people Japanese female artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for Japan World champion gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Gymnasts at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in gymnastics Olympic bronze medalists for Japan Nippon Sport Science University alumni Sportspeople from Sagamihara 21st-century Japanese sportswomen