With the Tokyo Summer games postponed an entire year due to Covid-19, athletes had no choice but to find new and creative ways to stay fit. We asked Olympians how they trained during a global pandemic, and this is what they said.
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“I have been fully submerged in water since March 2020.”
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“I gained over 150 pounds to compete in sumo wrestling, then got told I’m playing basketball. What a waste.”
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“Many of my sparring partners weren’t available so I had to stop people in the streets to ask if they wanted to fight me. Thankfully, most of them said yes.”
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“I logged over 2,000 hours in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2.”
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“It wasn’t quite the same, but I had to create a makeshift ocean out of 400,000 cubic feet and 3,200,000 gallons of water.”
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“Oh, we don’t have pandemics at the country club.”
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“I did four jumping jacks, consumed several cups of whey protein, and was good to go.”
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“I couldn’t go to a regular facility to train in pole-vaulting so I had to get creative. I started by vaulting over small animals—mostly squirrels and the occasional cat. Obviously, I graduated to dogs, small breeds at first, but then pit mixes and eventually a mastiff. But the final frontier is to finally vault over man. My only fear is that once I’ve crossed that threshold, there will be no turning back...”
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“I made sure to practice in a safe, isolated space, so I just kept booking Subway commercials.”
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“I just skated around an abandoned RadioShack parking lot until my parents told me it was time to go to Tokyo.”
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“I don’t know. When Covid-19 started, I hadn’t even been born yet.”
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“My grandma became my target. She wasn’t great at dodging bullets, but it was still good training for me.”
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“I swam a few laps, but mostly got sucked into investigating all the open cases on Unsolved Mysteries.”
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“It’s easy to stay in the water surfing all day when you know for a fact your parole officer is waiting for you on the beach.”
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“Luckily, as a softball player, I was already used to feeling ostracized and practicing alone.”
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“Most people think that fencing requires an opponent, but during the pandemic, we made due by hitting up local grocery stores and slicing into bags of salad mix.”
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“I played an entire NBA season and was paid $30 million for doing so.”
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“Pandemic?”
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