Hitomi Hatakeda

Hatakeda competed at the Birmingham World Cup, finishing fifth all-around with a score of 51.133. She also competed at the Doha World Championships as a member of the Japanese team alongside Mai Murakami, Nagi Kajita, Aiko Sugihara and Asuka Teramoto. The team finished sixth in the team final with a score of 160.262.[5]

Hatakeda finished sixth in the all-around at the Stuttgart World Cup.[6] At the 2019 Summer Universiade in Naples, she won the team gold medal with teammates Asuka Teramoto and Aiko Sugihara.[7] She also won the gold medals in the all-around and on the uneven bars and balance beam.[8][9][10] She also placed fifth on the floor exercise.[11]

Hatakeda competed at the World Championships, finishing eleventh in team qualifications and helping Japan qualify as a team for the 2020 Olympics. Individually she qualified to the all-around final, finishing seventeenth with a score of 53.932.

Hatakeda won the all-around bronze medal at the American Cup with a score of 53.799, finishing behind Americans Morgan Hurd and Kayla DiCello.[12] She was initially scheduled to compete at the Birmingham World Cup.[13] However, the event was postponed and eventually cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.[14]

In May, it was announced that Hatakeda would represent Japan at the 2020 Summer Olympics alongside Mai Murakami, Yuna Hiraiwa and Aiko Sugihara.[15] They finished fifth in the team final.[16]

Hatakeda was also selected to compete at the 2021 World Championships. She qualified to the all-around final in fourth place, but had to withdraw from the final after a training fall from the uneven bars. She was diagnosed with damage to her central spinal cord and bruising of the cervical spine.[17][18]

Hatakeda retired on 23 March 2022 as a result of the injury and a loss of motivation due to event postponements and cancellations during the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]