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 After her stunning exit from the women's gymnastics team event on
Tuesday, Simone Biles said she felt she had been carrying the weight
of the world on her shoulders. That burden seems to have been
exacerbated by a year a grief, loss and restrictions tied to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
"Usually you hang out in the village, all that stuff," Biles said.
"It does suck when you feel the weight of the world. There are no
outlets with the amount of training that we do."
Athletes have seen their pre-Olympic training disrupted by lockdowns
and restricted access to athletic facilities, and the postponement
of the Games fuelled concern about qualification schedules and the
ability to travel internationally without contracting the virus.
Their families and friends can't cheer for them in the stands in
Tokyo and their movements are heavily restricted.
The pandemic prompted the U.S. women's gymnastics team to steer
clear of the bustle of the athletes village and stay at a nearby
hotel for security reasons, something that takes the shine off an
Olympic experience.
"Not saying that we don't have a great set up," Biles said. "We
chose that to be COVID safe, the protocols and everything."
Biles said she had been able to keep in touch with family by
Facetime and text messages, giving her "all the support that I
absolutely needed."
"We have tons of resources available to us," Biles added. "But I
wanted to tough it out to the last minute, but obviously it didn't
work that way."
U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky, who also came into the Games with high
expectations, said she understood the pressure Biles felt as an
Olympian of her stature. She said their compatriots should be more
concerned about what is happening in the world than whether she wins
an Olympic title.
"Being Olympians it's something that we all have to watch out for
each other and help each other through and in times of need,"
Ledecky said after winning gold in the first 1,500 metres swimming
event for women ever staged at the Olympics.
'A DIFFICULT ROAD'
Even prior to arriving in Tokyo, athletes were facing new and
unfamiliar pressures linked to the pandemic. They had to find ways
to train during lockdowns and qualify for the world's biggest
sporting event without compromising their health or that of their
families and communities.
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 "It has been a difficult road
since 2019," said gymnast Angelina Melnikova of
the Russian Olympic Committee, who beat the
United States to win gold in the women's team
event.
"When we found out that the Games had been
postponed because of the pandemic, our training
base was closed. We were in quarantine for a
year and a half and trained all that time."
Other athletes contracted COVID-19 on their way
to Tokyo, at the Games themselves or in the
early stages of the pandemic, threatening to
derail their years of gruelling work toward the
Olympics.
British swimmer Tom Dean contracted COVID-19
twice in the run-up to Tokyo, forcing him to
spend days in isolation and put his training on
hold. The 21-year-old nonetheless won the men's
200m freestyle gold on Tuesday to help Britain
to its best ever start to an Olympic Games.
"I contracted COVID twice in the last 12
months," Dean said. "Sitting in my flat in
isolation, an Olympic gold was a million miles
away."
Other Olympians who contracted COVID-19 weren't
so lucky.
South Korean sabre fencer Oh Sanguk, who was
hospitalised for a month with the virus, faded
in his quarter-final against Georgian Sandro
Bazadze, eventually losing 15-13.
"I feel like my physical strength has weakened,
but every time I think about that, I feel my
confidence slipping," Oh told Reuters ahead of
his quarter-final on Saturday.
Like countless of people across the globe,
Olympians have also lost loved ones to the
virus. Biles' team mate Sunisa Lee, who won
three medals at the 2019 world championships,
lost both her aunt and uncle to the pandemic as
she was preparing for Tokyo.
"On a podium, people see athletes, others see
machines that are running and have to be
position one," said Bernard Ouma, who coaches
Kenyan runner Timothy Cheruiyot, the 1,500 metre
world champion.
"At the back of my mind as a coach, I see a
human being with social challenges as well.
(Additional reporting by Sakura Murakami, Aaron
Sheldrick, Amy Tennery, Omar Mohammed and Alan
Baldwin; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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