The Rio Olympics are still fresh in the mind, but the 2020 Games were in the thoughts of athletes at the official press launch of the Tokyo leg of the FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup on Monday.
Tokyo is the eighth, and penultimate, leg of this year’s World Cup series, and the city will host the next Olympic Games in four years.
A star-studded panel of seven swimmers — Japanese trio Daiya Seto, Masato Sakai and Rikako Ikee, Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, Chad le Clos of South Africa, Australian Kyle Chalmers, and Anthony Ervin of the US — answered questions on topics such as Olympic atmosphere, training techniques and…flowers!
The launch was at the Tatsumi International Swimming Center, venue for the World Cup action on Tuesday and Wednesday, before the series moves to its conclusion in Hong Kong at the weekend.
The Iron Lady, Katinka Hosszu, has effectively wrapped up the women’s title in the FINA/airweave World Cup series for a fifth straight year, and won her first Olympic medals in Rio, her fourth Games. She will be 31 when Tokyo 2020 comes around, but had some good news for her Japanese fans.
“Rio was an amazing experience. My big goal was to at least get one medal, and I ended with three gold and one silver, so that was really unbelievable and I'm still trying to process what happened in Rio. I love the sport, I love racing, and I’ll be here in Tokyo, racing just as hard,” said Hosszu.
Someone who has already defied the age barrier is 35-year-old Anthony Ervin, who, in Rio, became the oldest winner of an individual swimming gold in Olympic history, 16 years after medalling at Sydney 2000.
“To be honest, I thought my time had passed after the Sydney Games! But I was surprised at first after London 2012 that it was reasonable for me to believe that I could be better than I had been up to that point,” said Ervin.
“While swimming, we measure ourself in time, it’s a very simple component, just counting. But for anybody out there who would think they can be better than they've ever been, there are many ways to measure that. We can all decide to be better than we've ever been.
“When I was younger I spent the overwhelming majority of my training time in the pool. Nowadays I spend a lot more of it in the gym doing strength conditioning. Being older my body is better suited to strength training versus the attrition that can take place in the water. To survive longer training sessions in the pool, I have to change my technique. But survival technique is not very fast, therefore I must change my technique back to a quicker swim once I get close to a major meet.”
One feature of Rio was that, unusually for an Olympics, the medallists did not receive flowers. Ervin is keen to see those bouquets return for Tokyo 2020.
“At the Olympic Games, when you find yourself atop that podium, they give you a medal, and that medal will endure through your lifetime and beyond. But the flush and the thrill of victory is very temporary. They have an expression here in Japan that I love: mono no aware — the recognition that things are beautiful because they are temporary,” said Ervin.
“Those flowers will be very temporary. When you receive the bouquet you can then give that to the one that you love, so they can share in the beauty.”
Chad le Clos, a three-time winner of the World Cup series men’s title, lies second behind Russian Vladimir Morozov this time. Chad’s dad, Bert, provided one of the abiding memories of London 2012 with his emotional response to seeing his son strike gold, and those Games still hold a special place in the athlete’s memories.
“My first Olympics was London and obviously it’s special for many reasons, but I feel the atmosphere around the Olympic venue, and around the athletes’ village is special because you’re among the cream of the crop, the best athletes. Not just in swimming: athletics, tennis… Rafa Nadal and tennis stars all around the village. You know, you just feel very special to be around that,” said Le Clos.
Kyle Chalmers also enjoyed his first taste of an Olympics, when collecting two relay bronze medals and an individual gold in Rio.
“There’s no way I can describe the feeling, even the first night to win a bronze medal. How much as a country, the four boys standing there, how much we wanted that medal. And I guess it helped me believe it was possible to stand up and win a gold medal in the 100m freestyle,” said Chalmers.
“I knew I was swimming well but I still didn’t think that it was possible to achieve something like that at 18 years old. I was very grateful to even be at the Olympic Games this year, and to come away with three medals is very special to me and my country.”
All three Japanese swimmers on the panel were keen to stress how important their home Olympic Games will be to their careers, including Daiya Seto, who brought home a bronze from Rio.
“At Rio, I was able to get a medal but it wasn't gold, so at the Tokyo Games I’d like to get as many medals as possible, including a gold one,” he said.
Masato Sakai added: “I was able to get a silver medal at Rio, but I still want a gold, so that is what I’m going to be striving for at the Tokyo Games. I hope I’ll be able to get that gold and share it with you.”
Meanwhile 16-year-old Rikako Ikee said she hoped that at the Tokyo Games she could “get medals in a number of events”.