GUTTERTALK

BY ANDY ROSS

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO HAVE SOLIDIFIED QUALIFICATION FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN TOKYO AFTER A YEAR OF SO MUCH UNCERTAINTY?

ANNA HOPKIN

Great Britain

[ PHOTO BY PETER H. BICK ]

It feels amazing to officially be part of the Olympic team especially after the year we’ve had...and it means now I can put all my energy and attention into the upcoming Games. It was definitely a huge blow to me—and I’m sure to many around the world—when the Olympics were postponed last year, as I was in a really good place going into the qualification.

There’s always that little bit of doubt as to whether you can recreate that form a year later, but I had a really good block of training going into trials, so I was definitely relieved to do myself justice. It’s obviously going to be a different kind of Olympics than previous years, but I think, in a way, that will make the experience even more special.

SWIM MART LEWIS CLAREBURT

New Zealand

[PHOTO BY JO KLEINDL]

It’s super nice being able to have the Olympic qualification out of the way nice and early and putting together some solid times. Also, it gives me confidence moving forward to Tokyo and some really good information about how I’m tracking.

Obviously, it’s difficult with all of the same problems we had last year still lingering—if not, they’re worse—and I completely understand where the critics are coming from. However, from an athlete’s perspective, we really just want to get over there and race.

But sometimes we need to look at the greater good and what effects it might have on other areas if we were to travel into Tokyo. I’m lucky as an athlete—I don’t have to make those tough decisions, and, ultimately, I just get told what to do.

REACH LONG KICK STRONG

ANDREI MINAKOV

Russia

[PHOTO PROVIDED BY ANDREI MINAKOV]

Despite the absence of swimming competitions in 2020 and other difficult circumstances, I think we needed that one extra year of preparation, and it worked for us. We spent time exploring and finding new opportunities, testing new tactics and trying specialized workouts that we hadn’t done before.

At this point, I feel strongly confident about the Olympics—the most important is that we secured a spot, and even if anything changes and the Olympics are canceled/postponed again, it will affect everyone.

But we shouldn’t put too much pressure on ourselves because the decision regarding the Games is not taken by athletes. Our main priority is to train and be ready for all possible outcomes.

MOLLY RENSHAW

Great Britain

[PHOTO BY BECCA WYANT]

I think it’s just exciting the thought of it all going ahead. I think this time last year, we were all in a very different position where we were at home doing Zoom calls in our garages to fast-forward a year and kind of be excited to go toward a Games is a great feeling.

I had to switch off to a certain degree—obviously in the back of our minds, the preparation was always going toward Tokyo...that it was going to happen. But everything has been completely out of our control: We’ve just been doing whatever we can in the pool and the gym and with the staff around to be in the best condition we can be...and we’ve just been hoping and praying.

In terms of expectation, I’d just kind of like to go there and improve on what I did in Rio. I think going there was a great experience, and making the final was all I could have dreamed of at the time. But this time, I’d like to push things on and try and push for a podium place. v

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