TOKYO – Leukaemia survivor Rikako Ikee will compete for Japan in the 100m butterfly at the Paris Olympics after missing out on an individual place at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Three-time world champion Daiya Seto will swim the men’s 200m individual medley after Japan’s swimming federation announced its 27-member team for the Paris Games on March 27.
An 18-year-old Ikee was named Most Valuable Player of the 2018 Asian Games after claiming six golds and two silvers, and was expected to be one of the stars of the Tokyo Olympics.
In early 2019, a few months after those triumphs, she was diagnosed with leukaemia and spent around 10 months in hospital.
She returned to competition only in August 2020 and completed an incredible comeback by winning the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly at the 2021 Olympic trials.
Her times were not fast enough to qualify for the individual events in Tokyo, but the performances gained her selection for both freestyle and medley relay teams at her home Olympics.
Now 23, Ikee secured her place in the 100m butterfly by just 0.01 of a second at Japan’s trials earlier in March as she held off the fast-finishing Shiho Matsumoto to finish second in 57.30sec.
“In the end, I think it was my long arms that won the touch,” Ikee was quoted as saying by Olympics.com.
“I think God was on my side today.”
Ikee had been training in Australia under coach Michael Bohl, where she has been focusing on increasing the number of dolphin kicks straight after the start of her races, which has been a weak point for her, according to The Japan Times.
She said before the trials: “I am confident I can beat the qualifying times. My aim is well beyond them.
“I’ve improved tremendously. I’m approaching this meet with the attitude that I’m absolutely going to Paris.”
Her 100m fly race was won in an impressive 56.91sec by 17-year-old Mizuki Hirai, one of several talented Japanese teenagers in the team.
Also heading to Paris are Mio Narita, 17, in the women’s 400m IM and Tomoyuki Matsushita, 18, who swims the same men’s event.
“We have a very balanced group of veterans and the young and those somewhere in the middle,” said Japan Swimming Federation president Daichi Suzuki, the 1988 Seoul 100m backstroke gold medallist.
“I want to see them level up in the next four months and expect that they will show their will to fight in Paris. I am proud of the athletes we have here. I hope they will raise our flag in Paris.”
Meanwhile, British Olympic diving champion Matty Lee, who won gold alongside Tom Daley in 2021, will miss the Paris Games following spinal surgery.
The British pair won the men’s synchronised 10m platform at the Tokyo Olympics and Lee also triumphed alongside Noah Williams at the Commonwealth Games in 2022.
But the 26-year-old will miss the Olympics after receiving treatment.
“The surgery went well, but my surgeon told me my nerve was very stuck and it took longer than expected to remove my bulging disc without damaging my nerve,” he said in an Instagram post.
“He also told me it wouldn’t have got better on its own, so to have the surgery was the right decision.”
Lee added: “What this means for me this year is self-explanatory, which is very sad, but the reason I look so damn happy in hospital is that I’m no longer in chronic pain. We’ve found a solution and I have something to work on.”
Daley, 29, still has a chance of winning a second straight Olympic gold after joining forces with Williams. AFP
