The 100-day countdown to the delayed Olympic Games has begun with a host of Welsh athletes dreaming of achieving in 2021 what they were denied in 2020. Tokyo will be an Olympics unlike any that have gone before, but Brian Davies – Sport Wales’ director of elite performance – insists it will still make memories for athletes and TV fans alike, as Graham Thomas reports.
Welsh Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls have been primed to expect a very different experience in Tokyo in 2021 – but still a special one.
As the likes of Jade Jones, Aled Davies, Dewi Griffiths, Melissa Courtney, Elinor Barker, Owain Doull, Natalie Powell, Lauren Price, Hannah Mills and other Great Britain prospects reflect on a hugely disrupted 2020, they will be optimistic that the summer of 2021 brings brighter days.
The International Olympic Committee have resolved to do everything they can do to ensure the Games goes ahead in July.
But as the global coronavirus pandemic continues, the only real certainly is that if the Games does take place – a year after its original date in the calendar – it will be a very different type of event.
Any budding young athlete hoping the Olympics might mean a chance to hang out with the Jamaican sprint team in the athletes’ village restaurant, or an invite to the Brazilian beach volleyball team’s after-match party, are likely to be disappointed.
In and out
This Games will be smaller, tighter, more controlled. It will be less about hanging out and more about in-and-out.
But Brian Davies, Sport Wales’ director of elite performance, insists: “While Tokyo will be a very different Olympic Games, it will still be special to those who attend.
“They will still have memories, they will still have world class competition with the eyes of the world on them. But it is going to be different to anything we have seen before.”
The IOC have yet to outline their final schedule, but it seems inevitable both the Games and the Paralympics will operate a reduced version, with fewer athletes and events.
That appears inevitable, once the committee declared that the athletes’ village would more of a holding pen for athletes just about to compete, rather than a traditional base for the entire duration.
“The schedule will be interesting,” says Davies. “What events will be when and, crucially, which events may not be taking place.
“Unless the Games period is extended – which is every unlikely – then they can’t operate in the way they need to and also have everything they had planned on having.
Village life
“There are some events that were scheduled to take place that might not, or they will take place very differently.”
Athletes will be expected to arrive in the Tokyo 2020 village five days prior to their competition and depart a maximum of two days afterwards.
National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have been urged to adapt their arrival and departure plans to fit in with these new rules designed to reduce the risk of coronavirus.
Where possible, athletes are expected to acclimatise to the time differences in pre-Games training camps in Japan rather than in the Olympic village.
The normal sightseeing, socialising and so on, will be off limits.
“At their most recent session, the IOC seemed to have made some strides towards proving clarity for Olympic associations, so that they can start preparing appropriately,” adds Davies.
“It does look like the Olympic Village is the big problem. They need to look at the schedule to allow the village to operate in the way they want it to operate, which is as a holding pen immediately prior to events and then the athletes leave.
The select few
“It’s then up to the associations whether or not those athletes are allowed to stay in the country, in their own camps, or hotels, or whatever they have booked.
“The IOC’s responsibility will end once the athletes have left the village.”
So, the arrangements look clearer for Welsh hopefuls. Get in, compete, get out – either to home or elsewhere in Japan.
But what about the months stretching between now and the opening ceremony?
When are the qualification events in each sport? If there are no qualifiers, what’s the selection process?
Those matters are still to be decided in many sports with events tentatively planned over the next few weeks and months.
Some – like double Olympic taekwondo champion Jade Jones – have been able to travel abroad for a few events in recent months.
Olympic diary rings
Others, such as judo star Natalie Powell, have rings in their diaries for events in May and June.
Sadly, and inevitably, a smaller Games with fewer events, smaller teams and harder qualification times is likely to mean the younger, fringe selections could miss out altogether.
For Davies, that’s just a necessary consequence of the Games going ahead, although it could mean an enhanced role for the next Commonwealth Games, Birmingham 2022, as a launch pad for the Paris Olympics in 2024.
“It’s not easy for anyone, but the ones who will find it most difficult are the ones who were on the edge of selection.
“It’s a shame because in the past it’s all about giving athletes an opportunity to experience the Games so that they will be more experienced for the next Games four years later.
“But we do have Birmingham, so that will help them as an experience to help prepare them for Paris.”
The vaccine scene
There are other big issues to sort out, too, over the next 100 days.
With vaccines being rolled out across the globe, the IOC have said a vaccine certificate will not be insisted upon for each competitor – so preserving a level playing field.
Some countries, such as the USA, have declared they intend to vaccinate all their team beforehand, but demands that Olympic athletes somehow “queue jump” their place in the line could have all kinds of political repercussions in the UK and elsewhere.
Whatever happens in Tokyo, and in the build-up, Davies insists the Welsh hopefuls will take it all in their stride. Why? Because that’s what elite athletes do.
“Their shared characteristic is their resilience,” he says. “They will find a way through this because that’s what they always do.
The countdown is on. ⏳
It’s just 100 until the start of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. pic.twitter.com/7VO2rB2vMo
— Team GB (@TeamGB) April 14, 2021
“They do it when they get injured, when they have setbacks in performance or selection. They all have that resilience built into them but they will all need different levels of support.
“Anyone who goes will be there on merit, they will do doing their best, and they will have a hell of a story to tell.”