The Leap Year: Team GB athletes’ wait for Tokyo 2020
Although the challenges of Covid made planning difficult, the aim of the project was to show the different journey each athlete made in preparation to represent Great Britain at the Tokyo Games. The work offers a snapshot of what’s been going on behind closed doors, showing the extraordinary lengths each athlete is going through to keep at elite level and maintain the highest level of sporting ability. For some, their selection places were confirmed, pre-pandemic, while others the qualification process went right up to the wire.
Frazer Clarke, Super heavyweight boxer, Tokyo 2020 bronze medal winner
Six months after the Road to Tokyo Olympic qualifiers were suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, with lockdown rules relaxing, I met up with Clarke at his home in Burton to document what life as an elite boxer looked liked during the first lockdown. With The Lions’ Den, the GB Boxing training centre, tentatively opening for elite contact training, and new tournaments on the horizon, things were beginning to get back on track for Clarke and GB Boxing. This was cemented with a sensational return to the ring when Clarke secured gold at the Bocskai Memorial Tournament in Hungary in February.
“I have dedicated the last 10 years to this and earning the right to represent my country at the Olympic Games so to finally achieve it and be selected to represent Team GB is an amazing feeling,” Clarke said. “This is a really strong team so to have been named captain is an unbelievable honour. GB Boxing has played an enormous part in shaping me, not just as a boxer, but also a person and to be made captain of the team is amazing. It is one of the proudest achievements of my life.”
Lauren Smith and Marcus Ellis, Badminton - mixed doubles
Couple and mixed doubles Badminton England teammates, Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith are a tour de force. The northern powerhouse have accrued numerous high-ranking medals and trophies during their respective careers. Since the first shoot with Smith and Ellis at their home in Milton Keynes, the pair have gone on to compete at various world circuit events including the Denmark Open, the Asian leg of the HSBC BWF World Tour, and the YONEX All England Open where they put on a sterling effort and made the semi-finals. Competitive life under Covid has been challenging; during the World Tour tournament in Bangkok, athletes were confined to their hotel rooms except for training and competition, with meals being delivered to their rooms three times a day.
“We’re so excited to be Olympians again, after so much uncertainty and the longest wait we’re excited to get out there,” Lauren Smith and Marcus Ellis said. “It’s always such a proud moment representing Team GB and hopefully the work we put in at home during lockdown will pay off!”
Tom Squires, RS:X Windsurfer
Squires, from landlocked Oxford, was bitten by the windsurfing bug on a family holiday in Cornwall at the age of 11, when Squires’ father bought an old windsurf board and rig, and let his son have a go. He enjoyed it so much that on their return to Oxford they immediately signed up to the nearest Royal Yacht Association Windsurfing course. As lockdown restrictions began to lift last summer, I ventured to Weymouth, home to the RYA training base, to see what life of a sailor looks like coming out of Covid restrictions. Since my initial visit, Squires has gone on to compete on the world and European circuit, competing throughout mainland Europe, bagging a third position at Silvaplana, Switzerland.
I’m the first British male windsurfer whose name isn’t Nick Dempsey to represent Team GB at an Olympic Games since 1996!
“I actually didn’t have such a great time this year and there were times when I felt I didn’t perform well, but this summer I got some great training in and really came on in the areas I was struggling in,” Squires said. “There were even times where I thought about giving it all up and getting an adult job, but I managed to pull through in the end and qualify for a Games … I’m just super happy all my training has paid off. Now I’ve qualified, of course I am going for a medal.”
Nekoda Smythe-Davis, 57kg Judoka
Hailing from Ealing Judo Club, West London, Nekoda Smythe-Davis has embarked on a celebrated career as a 4th Dan Judoka and triumphantly smashed podium positions and was crowned Commonwealth and British champion in 2014. In 2016 she made her Olympic debut in Rio. When British Judo were given a green light to resume contact training at the Centre of Excellence in Walsall, following strict Covid guidelines, I joined Smythe-Davis on her journey back to elite training.
“I unfortunately sustained a concussion in November 2019 in the week leading up to the masters tournament,” Smythe-Davis said. “I was told I couldn’t fly to China and compete which was devastating. In the weeks following I started to struggle with delayed concussion symptoms that stayed persistent for some months. I struggled to get treatment when the pandemic hit and I regressed in my return when elite sport got the green light to return.
“After extensive rehab with a specialist physio and also seeing a neurologist to see how I could get better. It was after a consultation in November 2020 that I decided it would be too risky to rush back to try and be ready for the Games. I decided to put my health and well-being first. This decision came with a heavy heart as I knew I was likely to qualify for Tokyo. Making that decision is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I know now with the games just a few weeks away and I’ve only just started to feel normal again that this was the right decision to make. It’s amazing that I did qualify even though the last time I competed in an Olympic qualification event was October 2019 where I won gold in the Brasilia grand slam.”
“I am currently pregnant with my first child and I hope to return to the sport, injury permitting in the new year. I will aim to qualify for my third Olympics in Paris 2024.”
Liam Heath MBE, Sprint canoe – men’s K-1 200m, Tokyo 2020 bronze medal winner
Heath is the reigning Olympic Champion and holds the world’s fastest time in the men’s K1 200m. In 2016, Heath became Team GB’s most successful Olympic canoeist following gold and silver medals during the Rio Games, adding to the bronze he won at London 2012 with teammate Jon Schofield.
During the initial lockdown, unable to attend his home training facility at Dorney Lake, Heath set up a home training tent in his garden in Guildford and maintained fitness from home. It wasn’t until August that I was able to first capture Heath at Dorney, with a training day in March 2021. A month later, Heath joined Britain’s best flat water racers in his first competitive event in over 18 months at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham, with Heath putting down a strong performance to win the K1 Mens 200m sprint. All Heath’s training has taken place either at his home gym, Dorney Lake or Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre.
“Being selected to represent Team GB at the Olympics for a third time is such an honour and I feel incredibly lucky to compete once again.
“Each Games is so different and special in its own way,” Heath said. “I’m excited to get to Tokyo to experience what this one will be like - I have no doubt it will be amazing! I just want to thank everyone who has helped me get to this moment, Team GB, British Canoeing, National Lottery players, my coaches, support staff, team mates, volunteers and family. I’ve not got here on my own and I hope everyone will share in this incredible moment with me.”