When the Tokyo Olympics kick off this week, Japanese athletes are hoping that months of opposition on the Covid-19 he will be drawn by the power of sport and, in particular, the 21-year-old swimmer named Rikako Ikei.
Ikei was diagnosed with leukemia in 2019 and is expected to miss the Olympics even after he recovers. But the annual suspension of Tokyo 2020 due to coronavirus opened the door to an unexpected return.
The story of Ikei, who is a passionate and passionate competitor, has made him a promoter who wants the sport to continue even in the coronavirus, despite fulfilling the dreams of athletes who have been preparing for the competition for five years.
Coronavirus cases are on the rise in Tokyo and only 31 percent of Japanese people have received the first Covid vaccine. After telling the audience that it had been approved, the Japanese government changed its mind this month and decided to hold the ceremony in secret.
“To be honest, there are a lot of Japanese people who don’t want to participate in the Olympics,” said Akira Hayashi, a professor of sports science at Tokai Gakuen University. “But being curious is one thing that really makes you curious.”
After Ikei left for training camp in 2019, he is seen as the top winner in the medal. At last year’s Asian Games, he dominated freestyle and butterflies, returning with six gold and two silver medals.
Tomoaki Tasaka, a former swimmer who now writes for the sport, said Ikei is known for his skill and high form in the water, which makes him a great wrestler. “He loves to run and he hates losing,” he said. “When they break the record, they can’t be there, but they just want to be back all the time.”
Then Ikei got sick. His coaches drove him back to Japan where he was diagnosed with leukemia. “I still don’t believe it,” he told his followers on Twitter. “But if they are properly treated, they can recover completely.”
Throughout 2019, Ikei received aggressive cancer treatment. “It was exhausting even to wake up,” he told Japanese radio station NHK this year. “I was so sick and exhausted that I almost died.”
But at the end of the year, she was released from the hospital. He returned to training and in August 2020 resumed swimming in competitions after almost two years.
“When I saw him come back from the competition last year he looked useless. He was very thin: he didn’t look like a runner at all, ”said Hayashi. “I thought the Tokyo Olympics were unthinkable and he had to go to Paris.”
But Ikei continued to change and in February this year finished second in the 50m freestyle at the Japan Open. In the Olympic exams, it was not time to cut as a human being, but qualified to receive a medley.
Tasaka said the Japanese medley team is unlikely to be one of the medals, but could write world history and reach the final. “For him swimming in the Olympics will really show what a person can achieve,” he said.
As a result of Ikei’s role as a symbol of Tokyo 2020, activists who want the Olympics suspended began shooting him with messages on television, urging him to leave or announcing his opposition to the game.
His polite response, refusal to take responsibility and the call of those who sent “extremely hurtful messages”, was one thing that allowed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to continue the game as Covid’s concerns reached a climax in May.
“From now on I want to enjoy my progress,” Ikei told NHK. “If I could show you little by little how a man who has been shaken has grown so far, wouldn’t it be better?”
Its next phase is Tokyo 2020. When it competes at the end of July, the whole of Japan will be watching.
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