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© KYODOResurgent Ikee set for big Tokyo Olympic role
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© KYODO
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Dr.Cajetan Coelho
Healthy team spirit. "Since my places are decided, I now have to accomplish my mission. I'll contribute to the team with everything I have" - Rikako Ikee. All the best.
Boku Dayo
Say NO to this "petri-dish" event.
jeancolmar
Ikee deserves better than this Olympic mess.
Spitfire
Awesome woman.
What an inspiration to so many.
Mr Kipling
Asiaman7..... EPO is usually used to treat Leukemia.
The guidelines for Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) are that...
They must be to treat an acute or chronic condition.
The drug is unlikely to additionally enhance performance.
There is no reasonable alternative.I'm sure that her leukemia condition would easily cover 1 and 3. Guideline 2 would be the grey area depending on amount, and length of treatment.
Chabbawanga
Wont be hard to win a race with only one Competitor
therougou
So much for not putting the pressure on her
stickman1760
Yeah, like most here. It’s great she made a comeback and I wish her all the best. But you can be sure state sponsored media ( NHK, Kyodo) will try to milk it for all it’s worth
smithinjapan
Give her a big role, please. She more than deserves it, and is a true hero. But... PLEASE don’t make the “big role” an expectation of gold. We’ve already seen what that’s gotten her and other Japanese athletes in the past if they fail; old men (Mori) whining about how they embarrassed the nation, or how “regrettable” it is that she got cancer (not because of the disease but because they had already counted the gold medal in their projections). Just cheer for her and let her do her best, win or lose.
robert maes
i have tremendous respect for her and i stil work with some of the worlds top athletes but her participating in this Olympics is madness. She is stil recovering and maybe also only at 80 %. She will be driven and drive herself to hard to quickly. And she can not and should not compete in the individual events. It is again a disgusting move from the LOC and other organisations to put this pressure on her. The risk she hurts herself are very high and she will have to mingle with a lot of unvaccinated athletes. It is criminal. I hope she finds the strength to say thank you but no thank you. See you next year in Fukuoka or in Paris
Goodlucktoyou
Of a nation of 126,000,000 people, this is the only celebrity that state-linked Denso advertising/PR company can wind out all day long on Japanese media for the last three weeks.
Nothing against her, just Olympics in an escalating, mutating world...
kohakuebisu
Once again, she hasn't qualified. You cannot have "expectations" on someone who is not going to race. Congratulations to Ikee for winning the nationals, the story this weekend, but commiserations for missing out on the solo Olympic events.
If you want to see a Japanese swimmer compete for a medal, other swimmers are available, Shoma Sato for starters. He may not have recovered from leukemia and whatever you want to project onto that, but he will done lots and lots of hard work and is now only 0.28 seconds off the world record.
Fighto!
Unbelievable comeback, against all odds! Rikako-chan has the chance now to stamp herself as one of the greatest Japanese Olympians in history. Just getting there makes her a champion and hero!
PTownsend
Ms Ikee's comeback has been one of the most impressive I have ever seen in any sport.
kohakuebisu
I like Ikee but what is Kyodo saying here.
Ikee did not make the individual qualifying times. She has only qualified for relays. Japan's womens relay teams are full of swimmers who are presumably slower than Ikee and are up against other countries with swimmers who meet the individual qualifying times.
This "big role" nonsense strikes me as Kyodo building her up to drum up interest in an Olympic Games 80% of the public opposes.
factchecker
There's still hope this circus will be cancelled.
Asiaman7
Is Ikee still receiving, or how long did she receive, EPO for her anemia?
EPO is often given to patients recovering from cancer. EPO increases the blood's oxygen carrying capacity (red blood cells carry oxygen) and has a performance-enhancing effect in the brain, increasing motivation.
Ikee’s recovery has been extraordinarily quick, and cancer patients (with the exception of Lance Armstrong, a renowned EPO user) don’t usually surge to athletic superiority so rapidly after treatment.