World Aquatics Championships 2023: Ikee Rikako is back on the world stage after cancer battle, along with her winning smile
The two-time Olympian and cancer survivor returns to the worlds for the first time in six years. And she could, just maybe, set the meet alight in front of home fans in Fukuoka.
Swimming
Ikee Rikako is back at the World Aquatics Championships. And so is that radiant smile of hers.
“I haven’t been this excited about swimming in front of fans in a long time,” Ikee told us Thursday (20 July) in Fukuoka, Japan, three days before the start of the swimming competition. “So I’m super excited."
“The crowd was back at the nationals but I get the impression they are more into it when foreign swimmers are here.
“It almost feels like we’re not in Japan,” she said to media including Olympics.com in Japanese.
Ikee turned 23 two weeks ago. Though at one point in her life - February 2019 to be exact, when she was diagnosed with leukemia - there was a doubt whether she’d make it this far.
Ever the fighter, Ikee dramatically recovered from cancer to qualify for the relays at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 2021.
It was something she wasn’t really expecting. Following her last race at the Games in her hometown - for which she was pinned up as the golden girl until she fell ill - Ikee cried uncontrollably. It all came out.
The pain. The pressure. The expectations. The torment only she herself could understand.
What followed Tokyo 2020 wasn’t rosy either. There was the constant struggle between what Ikee could do, and what she wanted to do.
Slowly but surely, she regained the strength and physique that won her six titles and the MVP award at the 2018 Asian Games.
Yet at the trials for the 2022 world championships last year in Budapest, Ikee missed the cut. The tears flowed - again.
“Last year when I didn’t make the team, I peaked a week before the trials and once it began, I started to fade,” she recalled. “I wanted to make sure to adjust this time, and I like to think I did.”
This past April at the nationals - which doubled as the trials for the 2023 worlds - Ikee got redemption, winning four races, the 50 and 100 metres in the freestyle and butterfly, to carve out her place on the team for Fukuoka and the Asian Games this September.
Ikee Rikako could swim in as many as seven races in Fukuoka.
In Fukuoka - her first world championships since 2017 - she could swim in as many as seven events, the four mentioned above plus three relays.
Ikee says she no longer remembers what her form was like prior to her illness. The bullet-proof confidence she used to have is no longer there.
What she does know, however, is that she has done everything she can for this meet.
On some days during training camp, Ikee worked out with the marathon swimmers, putting in as much as 7km in the pool.
“I’m not that confident to be honest - as always,” Ikee said. “But while I may not have the confidence, I know I’ve done everything I can with regards to practicing and preparing.
“Having done all I can, it’d be a shame to not be able to perform at my best. If I can do that, I think I’ll place high.
“So I’m not dead confident. But I’ve done everything I can for this.”
Should Ikee win one of her individual races, the Japan Swimming Federation will award her a ticket to Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which has been her realistic, competitive target ever since beating cancer.
Ikee’s campaign begins on Sunday with the 100m butterfly. She believes that race will set the tone for her entire championships.
“The 50 fly, I probably put more work into it than anything else. But the 100 fly on the first day is the one that could determine the meet.
“It’s how I got going at the nationals, with the 100 fly. It’s not about the result but more about how well I can swim it to my satisfaction.”