- Japanese swimmer was treated at the edge of the pool
- Comes after 10 months of battle with leukemia
- Second swimmer to collapse during the Paris Games
A second swimmer collapsed on the pool deck after an Olympic race at the Paris La Défense Arena. A Japanese athlete recovering from leukemia stunned the crowd on Sunday.
The incident occurred days after 21-year-old Slovakian swimmer Tamara Potocka collapsed and was taken away on a stretcher to the Paris swimming pool.
Medical staff rushed to the aid of Japan’s Rikako Ikee, who collapsed shortly after the finish of the women’s 4x100m medley relay.
The 24-year-old athlete was walking from the post-race TV interviews to the mixed zone when she suddenly fell to the ground.
Ikee finished fifth at the 2016 Rio Olympics at the age of 16. At 18, she was expected to excel at the Tokyo Olympics, having been named MVP of the 2018 Asian Games, where she won six gold and two silver medals.
However, in early 2019, she was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia and spent about 10 months in the hospital. Her comeback has been remarkable.
She trained in Australia with Michael Bohl, the coach of Stephanie Rice, Kaylee McKeown and Emma McKeon, before returning to Japan earlier this year for the Olympic qualifiers.
“We have quite a few Japanese swimmers training with us. The relationship and cooperation between Japan and Australia is very good,” Bohl said in 2023.
Japan’s Rikako Ikee collapsed at the edge of a pool in Paris after completing her race. She was on her way to a comeback after battling leukemia for 10 months in 2020.
Rio Sharai, Satomi Suzuki, Mizuki Hirai and Rikako Ikee of Team Japan embrace after competing in the final of the women’s 4x100m medley relay
Ikee was the second swimmer to collapse in the Paris pool, after Slovakia’s Tamara Potocka required medical treatment
Ikee collapsed as she was going from the interviews to the mixed zone and was quickly surrounded by medical personnel. Towels were used to protect her as she was carried out of sight.
Team Japan’s social media team congratulated Ikee on her fifth-place finish, but had not yet reported her collapse at the time of publication.
Bohl’s assistant judge Janelle Pallister said ahead of the Olympics that Rikako had chosen to live and train in Australia to avoid the publicity in her home country of Japan.
“We don’t have any superstars,” she said.
“Everyone is the same, so she can just be a swimmer. She’s just a swimmer on the team training to be the best she can be.”
Ikee lives and trains in Australia, where he is trained by Michael Bohl (pictured right with Cody Simpson)
“So she’s not a superstar. She’s just Rikkie, not Ikee Rikako. In Australia she’s just a different person. She can just enjoy the training, enjoy her life without any extra pressure, I think,” Pallister continued.
“It’s very good that she has that exposure (in Japan). It’s very good for her because that’s what swimming is all about. You have Daiya (Seto), you have Honda (Tomoru), you have Kitajima (Kosuke) – you have so many stars here and they should be able to do what they want to do.
“But when they train, they just have to be someone else.”