Ikee Rikako: “My focus is on overcoming who I am today”
Ikee will be 28 when LA rolls around. After beating leukemia and defying all odds to miraculously qualify for Tokyo 2020, she had high hopes for herself for Paris 2024 with a proper run-up to the Games.
Things did not turn out the way Ikee had expected. In the only individual race of the meet, the 100m butterfly, her signature race, she didn’t make it past the semi-finals with the 12th fastest time overall.
Despite the results, Ikee was proud she had qualified for a third successive Olympics because at one point, she was facing the darkest chapter of her life.
Yet at the same time, Ikee was humbled by a hard dose of reality, the reality that she may no longer be the swimmer she once was prior to her illness, the version that swept to six titles at the 2018 Asian Games and was named MVP.
“I’m not trying to beat myself from the past anymore,” she said. “The reality is, it’s all but impossible for me to do – so my focus is on overcoming who I am today.”
“So I can’t sit here and say I’m that confident but I do always want to be a better version of who I am. I’d be super happy if I can record a new PB (at LA).
“I was incredibly nervous in Paris. You know how some people say they feel like throwing up because they’re so nervous? That’s how I felt. It was suffocating, overwhelming.
“I didn’t know what it was but pressure was all over me.”
After Paris, Ikee tried taking it easy. But Ikee being Ikee, she soon found out taking it easy was not her thing. Ever the competitor, the fire in her belly catches too quickly.
Then there was the inclusion of the 50m events for LA28. Ikee had always described herself as a sprinter and as fate would have it, her fourth and final Games just might be her best shot yet at an elusive Olympic medal.
“I was taking it easy after the Olympics, thinking 2025 would be slow. But once I was back in the pool, I started to feel like I wanted to go all in again. I guess I just don’t know how to take it easy.
“With the 50m races now in for Los Angeles, all the top swimmers will be eyeing it. I think the field will be deep and super competitive.
“Both the 50m and 100m have always been important to me, but there have been few Japanese who have been competitive in the 50m. I’ve spent the last year or so working on my mind and body so that I can keep up with the best in the world at the distance.”