How ready are the biggest stars for the rescheduled Tokyo Olympic Games, which are finally to begin in July, a year later than planned after the COVID-19 pandemic forced their postponement?
AFP Sport looked at the state of readiness of established medal winners and potential medalists:
KOHEI UCHIMURA
Photo: AFP
Japanese gymnast Kohei Uchimura has been forced to downsize his ambitions for this summer’s Games, but he is still looking to add more gold to his sizeable collection.
The 32-year-old — dubbed “King Kohei” and considered by many as the greatest gymnast of all time — has said he would not defend the all-around titles that he won in London in 2012 and again in Rio four years later, due to persistent shoulder pain.
Instead, he would focus on the horizontal bar and in Tokyo, he would aim to add to his career haul of three gold and four silver Olympic medals.
Uchimura’s preparations were interrupted when a positive COVID-19 test threatened to rule him out of an exhibition event in November last year, only to be given the all-clear after testing negative just days later.
He went on to win the horizontal bar title at the Japanese nationals the following month, describing it as an “important” step in his Olympic preparations.
RUTH CHEPNGETICH
Ruth Chepngetich powered through the heat and humidity to win gold in the women’s marathon at the 2019 world championships in Doha.
When asked in the Qatari capital about the Tokyo Olympics, she said: “I will try my best.”
The 26-year-old Kenyan is certainly to head to Japan among the firm favorites for Olympic gold, with COVID-19 restrictions seemingly having had little impact on her performances.
Earlier this month, she backed up her winning Doha form by taking 29 seconds off the world record as she won the Istanbul Half Marathon, clocking a stunning 1 hour, 4 minutes, 2 seconds.
“I am really happy with this amazing result,” Chepngetich said. “The world record is something I have been dreaming about.”
Chepngetich is likely to be part of a strong Kenyan women’s middle and long-distance running team, with teammate and world record-holder Brigid Kosgei key to shaping the marathon podium.
ADAM PEATY
Olympic champion and 100m breaststroke world record-holder Adam Peaty had a training pool installed in his backyard after facilities were closed during Britain’s first COVID-19 lockdown last year.
The 26-year-old is one of four British swimmers already selected for Tokyo, based on his performances at the 2019 world championships, with the full team yet to be announced.
“It’s very exciting,” Peaty told the BBC. “I think I’m in a very good position. For me, it’s just about building confidence now.”
“I kind of get my confidence from racing fast into the Olympics,” Peaty said. “I’ve got to get my confidence from somewhere else, which is probably going to be training.”
Peaty won gold in the 100m breaststroke in Rio and silver in the 4x100m medley relay. He is an eight-time world champion.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier