In Japan, boxing nurse's Olympic dream crushed by COVID-19
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[May 13, 2021]
By Ju-min Park and Kim Kyung Hoon
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese nurse Arisa
Tsubata has trained around her work shifts for over a year to
prepare for a final Olympic boxing qualifier in the hope of making
it to the Tokyo Games this summer.
That dream was shattered after the International Olympic Committee
(IOC) cancelled the boxing qualifier due to take place in June and
said it would allocate spots to athletes based on their world
rankings in recent years.
The change in criteria has effectively shut the door on many Olympic
hopefuls such as Tsubata, whose rankings are not good enough to earn
them an automatic qualification for the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Other qualifying competitions for the Olympics have also been
cancelled.
(Open https://reut.rs/3faWtf1 in an external browser to see a
picture story on the Japanese boxing nurse)
In order to focus on her boxing, the 27-year old quit her job at a
major hospital in January to take on a less demanding and lower paid
position at a smaller psychiatric clinic.
Since then, she has trained over three hours a day during the week
and extra hours on Saturdays, only taking Sundays off to rest or to
get a massage.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/May/13/images/ads/current/chuckglass_sdadaily_HG_2020.png)
"It's very disappointing," said Tsubata, who currently works at the
Life Support Clinic in Tokyo. "I had been working so hard for a year
after the postponement of the Olympics, and it's so frustrating that
I don't even have the right to compete."
Japan has said the Olympic Games, delayed in 2020 due to COVID-19,
will go ahead but questions remain over how it will hold the massive
sporting event mid-pandemic. The country is currently fighting a
fourth wave of coronavirus infections.
"'Why did I aim for the Olympics when the coronavirus happened?' I
asked myself," she said, also wondering "who knew the coronavirus
pandemic would come at this time?"
Her feeling of frustration and uncertainty is shared by many
athletes globally whose careers have been thrown into limbo, after
the pandemic dashed some people's life-long dreams of participating
in the global sporting event.
The IOC has a June 29 deadline to wrap up qualifications for this
year's Olympics and with the cancelled qualifiers, it now has to
allocate about 53 spots in boxing across several regions based on
ranking points since 2017.
In COVID-ravaged India, the head coach of the country's
national boxing team Santiago Nieva also remembers the "heartbreaking
moment" when he delivered the news to four boxers.
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![](../images/051321pics/in%20japan%20boxing_small.jpg)
Arisa Tsubata, 27, a nurse and a boxer,
trains next to a poster advising measures against the coronavirus
disease (COVID-19), at a gym inside the psychiatric clinic 'the Life
Support Clinic', where she works, in Tokyo, Japan, April 19, 2021.
Tsubata has trained around her work shifts for over a year to
prepare for a final Olympic boxing qualifier in the hope of making
it to the Tokyo Games this summer. That dream was shattered earlier
this year after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to
cancel the boxing qualifiers due to take place in June and to
allocate spots based on the rankings of recent years instead. "I
can't say I am aiming for the next Olympics in Paris, but what I can
do is try to keep working hard step by step, at any competitions
ahead, small or big," Tsubata said. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
![](../images/ads/current/graue_lda_2021.gif)
"You feel like you're taking away
their dreams," Nieva said. "They became depressed.... they were
empty, felt empty in the head and body."
MIXED FEELINGS
Tsubata got into boxing about three years ago to lose weight, but
her training coaches quickly encouraged her to compete in the sport
and she went on to win Japan's national boxing championship for the
middleweight division in 2019.
As a nurse and a boxer, she has mixed feelings about whether the
Olympics due to start in July should go ahead as cases rise.
"As an athlete, considering fellow athletes waiting for this moment,
and especially seeing my chance being taken away, I think the
Olympics should happen," she said.
But, as a nurse, she said it "might be difficult" for Japan to hold
the Olympic Games if the spread of the coronavirus is not contained.
For now, Tsubata is trying to stay positive, and is preparing for
her international debut at a tournament in Russia this month.
She says it is too early to think about the Olympic Games in Paris
in 2024 and worries she may be too old by then to keep up with the
physical strength needed to compete.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/May/13/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png)
"I can't say I am aiming for the next Olympics in Paris, but what I
can do is try to keep working hard step by step, at any competitions
ahead, small or big," Tsubata said.
(Reporting by Ju-min Park and Kim Kyung Hoon; Additional reporting
by Akira Tomoshige; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
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