Kiko Yokota

Yokota began rhythmic gymnastics when she was ten years old and joined the national group in 2014.^[1] She competed at the 2014 World Championships with the group that placed eighth in the all-around.^[2] She helped Japan win the bronze medal in the 5 ribbons final at the 2015 World Championships, which was Japan's first Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships medal in 40 years.^[3]

Yokota was selected to represent Japan at the 2016 Summer Olympics alongside her teammates Airi Hatakeyama, Sakura Noshitani, Sayuri Sugimoto and Rie Matsubara. They qualified for the group all-around final and finished in eighth place.^[4][5][6] This was the best-ever Olympic result for the Japanese rhythmic gymnastics group.^[7]

Yokota competed at the 2017 World Championships and helped Japan win the group all-around bronze medal, behind Russia and Bulgaria.^[8] They won another bronze medal in the 5 hoops final and then won the silver medal in the 3 balls and 2 ropes final.^[9] Then at the 2018 World Championships, they won the silver medal in the 5 balls final behind Bulgaria and finished fifth in the all-around.^[10]

At the 2019 Baku World Cup, Yokota helped Japan win the group all-around title and a silver medal in the 5 balls final.^[11] Then at the 2019 World Championships, she won a group all-around silver medal, which matched Japan's best-ever group all-around result from 1975.^[12][13] They then won the gold medal in the 5 balls final, becoming the first Japanese group to win a title at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships. They also won the silver medal in the 3 hoops and 4 clubs final.^[3]

Yokota was selected for the team but was unable to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics due to an injury.^[14] She announced her retirement from the sport in September 2021.^[1]

• Kiko Yokota at World Gymnastics
• Kiko Yokota at Olympics.com
• Kiko Yokota at Olympedia