Rhythmic gymnastics has been an official event of the Asian Games since 1994 (Hiroshima, Japan). This was the third time that there has been rhythmic gymnastics competition in the Asian Games.

We had been aiming for a gold medal in the team competition and a bronze medal in the all-around final, but we couldn't get the medal we hoped for in the team competion. The reason for this is poor judging.

Yukari Murata, Yachiyo Nakamura, Ai Yokochi, and Tomoko Yoshida did their best and performed well. However, their scores were much lower than we expected, and they ended up in fourth place. We might not be able to see the flaws of our own gymnasts; however, the scores of the Japanese team were obviously manipulated by the judges from China, Uzbekistan, and Malaysia, who were under the control of medal-desiring Korea, the host country. Korea has been getting better recently, but they have never beaten us in any international competition. In this meet, they made some obvious mistakes, but their scores were impossibly high, had the judges followed the Code of Points strictly.

With low spirits we started the all-around final on the second day. Murata and Yokochi went to the finals. The two finalists were steadier than on the previous day and Murata received third place with the score on her last event, clubs.

In this meet, as a delegation, we did our best as judges, coaches, and gymnasts. However, those efforts could not bring us a good result, and we only received low scores.

According to the FIG Code of Points, the head coach cannot complain about scores, but for the sake of rhythmic gymnastics as a sport, we would like to appeal these scores any way we can.

In team competition, the total score of the four gymnasts from each country counted as the final result. We experienced this scoring method in the World Championships, the Four Continents Championships and elsewhere, but we have never seen a competition in which we couldn't get good scores, even though our performances absolutely deserved it.

Murata, the winner of the '01 nationals and the Asian Games Trials, had competed in the World Cup in Berlin, Germany; and Nakamura, Yokochi and Yoshida had competed in the Aeon Cup. Their performances were on track to do well at the Asian Games. After those prior competitions, the judges had checked their difficulty, and we could go to Busan well prepared.

In Busan, Ms. Sekita (an FIG member), Ms. Hasegawa and Ms. Takamizawa (judges) watched our gymnasts in training and Mr. Imaki (a trainer) took care of each athlete's condition.

Murata and Yokochi led the team well. Nakamura was getting less nervous. Yoshida's smile shined on us and contributed to the atmosphere of the team. The team work was also extremely good.

On the first day, many audience members came from Japan to support the team, and the team members did their best on each event. However, the scores were not as good as we expected. We thought it was due to the very strict judging of all the gymnasts, but on the last event, clubs, all three gymnasts were perfect but the scores were very low, as if the judges had been manipulated. We could see the judge's conferences after each performance of a Japanese gymnast, in which a Japanese judge complained about ridiculous scores with much passion. However, even with our judges' efforts, we were beaten and placed fourth. We had never imagined such a result. Everyone, the audience, the media, and the people concerned with gymnastics, questioned the scores, but the victims were the gymnasts. We could only watch them crying emotionally. We tried to keep our rising anger in check.

On the second day, before the all-around final, the gymnasts could not get over the results of the team competition. We encouraged and convinced them to answer the support from not only the Japanese audience but the people watching at home in Japan.

The gymnasts hit their routines extremely well, and Murata won a bronze medal. This result was due to their team work, temper, and Murata's strong concentration. Yokochi could not score well on rope, in which there was no Japanese judge, and the result was not what she was capable of.

This meet had big problems with judging. The countries evaluated much higher than their potential will be reproached by those evaluated much lower than their potential. In other international meets, countries which did well in this meet will suffer when confronted with different judges. However, neither the gymnasts nor the people from those countries are guilty. Whenever we go to foreign countries for competition, we get warm receptions from their people. It is lamentable to have a bad memory due to the actions of a few people. Anyway, at this meet, we realized that, for the future of rhythmic gymnastics, it was important for us to be a country which can evaluate consistently and fairly.

Finally, we'd like to say that China's progress impressed us. Not only the training of the younger athletes but also the adjustment to the new rules helped the Chinese gymnasts deserve their gold medals (in the team competition and the all-around final). Considering those results at this meet, in which our gymnasts performed perfectly but were beaten, the biggest task for us is to make routines which can impress anyone, and it will be the key to the next World Championships, the qualification into the Olympics.