TOKYO (TR) – Satoko Okazaki, a former Olympic gymnast, has been arrested on suspicion of using stimulant drugs, her fourteenth such arrest, reports TV Asahi (June 19).
At the end of April, Okazaki, 58, arrived at a police box in Suginami Ward to consult about lost property. During the discussion, she began behaving suspiciously, according to police.
Police later administered an analysis of her urine that gave a positive result for kakuseizai, or stimulant drugs.
She is now under prosecution for the crime. Police did not reveal whether she admits to the allegations.
Police first arrested Okazaki for possessing marijuana after a traffic stop in April 29, 1995. The following month, she was further accused of using stimulant drugs. She later received a suspended prison term.
She was arrested again later that year — and again in 2000, 2005 and 2009 — for possession of stimulant drugs. In those four cases, she was handed prison terms.
On February 15, 2013, police arrested Okazaki over the alleged use of stimulant drugs in Shinjuku Ward. However, she was not not prosecuted for the crime.
The following September, officers working off a tip searched her residence and found a straw that had traces of stimulant drugs. She and a member of a criminal syndicate, with whom she was living, were later arrested on suspicion of possession of stimulant drugs.
When taking into account six other cases in which evidence was proven to be insufficient, the arrest was her thirteenth. The following year, a court handed her a prison term of three years and six months.
In 1976, Okazaki represented Japan in the Olympic Games in Montreal. She finished 30th in the women’s individual all-around competition.
