Canadian Olympic wrestlers want to battle for medals at Summer Games in Tokyo

Canadian wrestlers have high hopes for Tokyo Canadian wrestlers remain hopeful that they will be able to compete for gold in Tokyo. Glenn Campbell reports

CALGARY — February has been a better month for Japan in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cases were spiking at the beginning of January as that country struggled to fight the third wave, prompting some to question whether the Summer Olympics could go ahead as scheduled from July 23 to Aug. 8 in Tokyo.

But numbers have come down. Japan has gone from a daily report of 8,000 cases at the beginning of January to 5,045 being reported two days ago.

Tokyo’s numbers also look better. They’ve gone from 1,800 new cases being reported at the beginning of January to 868 new cases reported a couple of days ago. And that’s giving some athletes optimism that the games can go forward.

Erica Wiebe was back at the Canadian Sport Institute gym at WinSport on Wednesday morning, training for what she hopes to be another Olympic gold medal performance in Tokyo.

Wiebe won gold in the Women’s 75 KG freestyle at the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro. She says she’d love to have a chance to defend her gold medal.

“I think the Olympics will go forward,” Wiebe said.

“I think it will be a completely different experience from the athletes on the ground and probably not going to have fans. But I think hardcore fans here in Calgary will be cheering us on and the experience watching will be really similar.”

The Tokyo games were supposed to be held in July 2020 but were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fellow wrestler Danielle Lappage has also qualified for the games. Lappage also competed in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. She agrees the experience won’t be the same but says it’s important for the Olympics to go ahead.

“I don’t expect there to be and opening ceremony to the same extent and have as many people in the crowd cheering us on in the opening ceremonies, the closing ceremonies and the event itself,” Lappage said.

“That being said we’re there as athletes just to compete. It’s just another tournament for us and so that part of it is going to be the exact same for us.”

The International Olympic Committee is confident the games will be held this summer. The IOC has released an athlete playbook which outlines initial protocols they’ll be following for the games.  Wiebe says she’s confident the measures will keep her safe.

“I think there will be testing, there will be distancing and there will be protocols. And vaccine or no vaccine I think that many Canadian athletes are ready to take the risks,” she said.

“And when we come home to you know quarantine and do what’s safe for our community.

Something that has been controversial is whether Olympians should be vaccinated before the games. Lappage says there’s no way she could support that.

“I think it should be the most venerable, the health care workers and the frontline workers who should get it first as scheduled and is supposed to happen. I don’t think we should cut in line."

Wiebe agrees with her teammate but is hoping by the time July rolls around, the country will be in a place where any Canadian who wants to get vaccinated will be able to. We shall see.