Olympic athletes across the globe spent much of their life preparing for the Games. It is sports’ grandest stage, rivaled only in importance and audience size by World Cup Soccer and the Super Bowl. Considering that a win or a remarkable performance can make stars out of previously unknown names, the reality of the unprecedented Olympic postponement is starting to settle in for many of these athletes.
Swimmer Ryan Lochte is an Olympic veteran, having previously won 12 Olympic medals (six gold). He recently appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America via Skype, sounding philosophical about the postponement. “Training will never be perfect, and there’s always going to be something like a bump in the road, and that’s how us athletes train, and this is just another bump in the road.”
Soccer star Carli Lloyd of the United States Women’s National Team had contemplated retiring after the Olympics this summer, after 15 years with the team. Now she sounds excited to play in 2021:
“It’s going to give me another year to really leave it all out on the field,” she said. “I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but another year sounds pretty good.”
Adapting to new training techniques
Lochte says he’s doing some deep cleaning around the house and embracing dry-land training rather than doing laps in the pool. Lloyd, on the other hand, trains in her home gym and other places she can work out alone – a series of trails near her home has been good for running alone.
All the more special
Middle and distance runner Karissa Schweizer was disappointed as well, but she is one of the many athletes that spoke of the importance of the games as a shared global event, particularly at this time:
“The Olympics brings the world together and even if that doesn’t happen this year, I have hope that when it does happen, it will just make it all even more special. As for now, the work continues and even though there’s many obstacles, I’m still going to work just as hard to shoot for more moments like this in the future.”
Well put, one and all.