IKEE Rikako returns to Olympic stage, already 'excited' about Paris 2024

Twenty-year-old cancer survivor and teammates just misses out in 4x100m freestyle relay final after finishing ninth. Next race on Friday - the medley relay.

GettyImages-1330375006
(2021 Getty Images)

IKEE Rikako's highly anticipated return to the Olympic Games on Saturday (24 July) didn't quite turn out the way she had hoped.

The Japanese 4x100-metre freestyle relay team, for which the 21-year-old cancer survivor swam the second leg, came in ninth in the heats in 3 minutes, 36.20 seconds, missing out on the top-eight finish necessary to qualify for the final.

But the radiating smile was still there.

You could see it - feel it - even through the mask Tokyo 2020 athletes are obligated to wear because she is, one race into these Games, already excited about Paris 2024.

"I'm not going to lie, I’m so happy to be able to compete at the Olympics for a second time. I’m glad I got here", said Ikee, who qualified for her hometown Games in April only eight months after returning to competition following her year-long bout with leukemia.

"But as I’ve always said, the Games are no fun if you’re only there as a tourist. It means something because you go up against the best of the best in the world.

"I watched the 100 butterfly heats today and it got me so fired up for Paris. I can’t wait. I already see myself making it out of the heats, the semifinals and then going back to Japan with a huge smile on my face after the final.

"And that’s what I work for from hereon".

Ikee's Tokyo 2020 is not done yet. She will enter in the 4x100m medley relay whose heats are on 30 July and the following day could throw her hat into the mixed medley relay debuting here.

Despite becoming stronger with each swim in the months leading up to the Games, Ikee on Saturday admitted the lack of international competition got to her.

"At the domestic competitions like the national championships, it’s easy for me to find a rhythm, get into a groove", Ikee said.

"But when it’s the international events like the Olympics or world championships it’s not as easy. That’s the pressure of the big meets like the Olympics.

"I speak for all four of us when I say that we’re frustrated with the result", she said referring to her relay teammates IGARASHI Chihiro, SAKAI Natsumi and OMOTO Rika.

"We all think we could have done this and that but that’s the Olympics; it’s not easy to bring out the best in you on the day. For me, I was reminded again just how difficult it is to seize the moment on this stage".

Ever the optimist - and the fierce competitor that lurks behind her million-dollar smile - Ikee was eyeing next year's world championships on home soil in Fukuoka as a springboard for Paris 2024.

Ikee confided there was a time when she struggled with being called an Olympian with all the noise stemming from the Games.

But when the gun went off at 20:48 at Tokyo Aquatics Centre, she managed to leave all that behind - for good.

"It hurts but there’s the world championships next year", she said. "I didn’t come into these Games in the best shape I can be in. I may only be 80 per cent the swimmer I can be but for today, I gave it my 100 per cent.

"I still have races left and want to give them everything I’ve got".

More from