By Brayden Yin

If it weren’t for COVID-19, we would be in the middle of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. To stop the spread of the deadly virus, the games were postponed to 2021. NPR has been reaching out to Olympian Chari Hawkins to see how she is keeping up her competition during the pandemic.

Hawkins is a heptathlete. A heptathlon is a group of seven track and field events that take place over the course of two days. On day one of the heptathlon, the beginning event is the hurdles for 100m, then the high jump, and then the shot put, which is throwing a weighted ball as far as you can. After that, day one is wrapped up with the 200m dash. The second day consists of the long jump, the javelin throw, and finally the 800 meter run.

Recently, Hawkins has been suffering an ankle injury after an especially intense workout. The doctors chose to decline the option of surgery because the recovery would take time and the Olympics were coming up.  Now, because the pandemic has moved the Olympics to 2021, Hawkins says that the postponement was a “blessing in disguise.”

Since the coronavirus has shut down the Olympics for 2020, the quarantine is a chance for Olympians to train a little harder, so the 2021 Olympics will be more magnificent than it ever could have been in 2020.

Sources:

https://www.npr.org/2020/08/01/898184580/track-and-field-athlete-plots-course-to-1st-olympics