The upcoming Tokyo Olympics have been mired in controversy; from the lack of certainty about whether the event would happen in the first place, to whether athletes would participate in a country where less than 12% of the population has been fully vaccinated.
You May Also Like: Tokyo Calling: Can Bio-bubbles Safeguard the Olympics?
Such a lack of certainty has immensely impacted athletes preparing to participate in the game immensely; these individuals spend years training and perfecting their craft in anticipation of what is arguably the largest sporting tournament in the world. The COVID19 pandemic threw all this preparation up into the air, affecting athletes’ physical, and just as importantly, mental conditioning.
In conversation with Chirag Chinnappa, John Gloster (Head, Sports Science, GoSports Foundation) and Divya Jain (Head, Sports Psychology, Fortis Hospitals) shed some light on the impact of the pandemic on these athletes, how they dealt with the constant lack of certainty and how other athletes can deal with the situation as well.
