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Simone Manuel
SWIMMING, U.S.
When Simone Manuel glanced at her
time in the 100-m freestyle semi-
fi nal at the Olympic trials on June 17,
she wasn’t entirely surprised—even
if much of the swimming world was.
She fi nished ninth, missing the cut
for the fi nals and ensuring that the
reigning gold medalist in the 100-m
freestyle wouldn’t be defending her
Olympic title.
Manuel revealed after the
disappointing swim that she
was diagnosed with overtraining
syndrome in March. “It was really
hard to [swim] specifi c times that
had come easier weeks or months
before,” she tells TIME. “As I
continued to compete and train
hard, it got worse and worse.” Her
fi rst symptom was a fast heartbeat,
even when she was resting or
doing simple sets in practice. That
snowballed into anxiety, insomnia
and depression when things in the
pool didn’t improve.
Her doctor recommended com-
plete rest, so Manuel returned home
to Texas for about 12 days in March.
“My job when I got home was to lit-
erally recover,” she says. Long mas-
sages, ice baths and time out of the
water helped restore her body, but
her mind was another matter. Forced
to take so much time off so close to
the Olympic trials didn’t help her
anxiety. “Being out of the water,
watching time pass me by, was hard
mentally,” she says.
It was the latest disruption in a
grueling year that saw the Olympics
postponed because of the COVID-19
pandemic, which disproportionately
aff ected people of color, and a
widespread reckoning over racism.
“What the Black community had
to deal with this year was very
hard,” says Manuel, who became
the fi rst African-American woman
to earn an individual Olympic gold
in swimming at Rio in 2016. “The
deaths of George Floyd, Breonna
Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and the
incident with the man in Central
Park happening right after each
other really made me have to sit
down and I guess grieve some of the
experiences I’ve had in the sport,
or experiences I’ve had as a Black
woman that I had just brushed off
before.” It was, she says, “like a
mirror I couldn’t look away from.”
The time to refl ect proved well
spent, however. Three days after
missing the 100-m fi nal, Manuel
won the 50-m freestyle fi nal at
the trials, giving her the chance
to swim for an individual medal
in Tokyo.
“There were moments I wasn’t
sure if I was going to be able to
get on the team,” she says. “But I
learned that I have a lot of persever-
ance, a lot of fi ght in me. I willed
myself to that wall. More than any-
thing, [the trials experience] taught
me there really is nothing I can’t do.
And I think that’s pretty cool.” —A.P.
Maria
Lasitskene
TRACK AND FIELD, RUSSIAN
OLYMPIC COMMITTEE
Having dominated high jumping for
years—winning gold at the 2015, 2017
and 2019 world championships—Maria
Lasitskene, 28, is vying for her fi rst Olym-
pic gold in Tokyo. She’ll be one of 335
Russians competing in Tokyo under a
neutral fl ag after an investigation re-
vealed a widespread, state- sponsored
athlete- doping program. As punish-
ment, Russian athletes are barred from
competing under their fl ag and anthem
until 2022. In a country where top ath-
letes rarely speak out against offi cials,
Lasitskene has been a leading voice for
reform, calling on top athletics offi cials
and coaches to be replaced. “I’m just an
athlete,” she wrote in a 2019 open letter.
“But I have a lot of questions.”
—Madeline Roache
Andre
De Grasse
TRACK AND FIELD,
CANADA
He’s the last man standing. With
Usain Bolt retired and other
once elite sprinters failing to qualify,
Andre De Grasse, 26, will be the only
100-m and 200-m men’s medalist
from the Rio Games to race in
Tokyo. In 2016 he won 100-m
bronze and 200-m silver, as well as
4 × 100-m relay bronze, to become
the fi rst Canadian sprinter to earn
three medals at a single Olympics.
De Grasse has stayed busy since
Rio, graduating from the University
of Southern California and having
two children with his partner Nia
Ali, the world champion American
hurdler. In both 2017 and 2018,
De Grasse’s seasons were cut short
because of hamstring injuries. He’s
healthy now, and with 2019 100-m
world champion Christian Coleman
out of the Games for missing drug
tests, it may fi nally be De Grasse’s
time on top of the podium. —S.G.
ROSS: JOE SCARNICI—GETTY IMAGES; FRASER-PRYCE: KARIM JAAFAR—AFP/GETTY IMAGES; MEDINA: MATT DUNBAR—WORLD SURF LEAGUE/GETTY IMAGES; MANUEL: MADDIE MEYER—GETTY IMAGES; HEADSHOTS: GETTY IMAGES (4)
