Here’s how South Florida coaches, athletes dealing with Tokyo Olympics uncertainty
Nobody knows better than University of Miami diving coach Randy Ableman what Olympic athletes in South Florida and across the globe are going through as the International Olympic Committee reportedly plans to postpone the 2020 Tokyo Olympics because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Ableman was one of the top divers in the world the summer of 1980 when the United States led 65 nations in a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. His lifelong Olympic dream was crushed.
He has tempered his disappointment by coaching divers in the past seven Olympics, and was coaching five divers for the upcoming Tokyo Games — four men and one woman. In fact, they were supposed to leave in two weeks for a test event in Tokyo at the Olympic venue.
When he heard news Monday that Dick Pound, a member of the International Olympic Committee, told USA Today that the 2020 Games would be postponed, his heart sank for all athletes in every sport.
Forty-one athletes with local ties competed in the Rio Olympics four years ago – 21 for the United States and 20 for other countries. A similar number was expected this summer.
“It’s been so weird because things progressed so fast, and I have a couple kids with a legit chance of being on the Olympic team and I’ve been trying to keep their minds right,” Ableman said by phone. “When I have a few minutes to myself, I feel such a responsibility to make sure these kids reach their dream. They’ve been working forever for this. I can’t believe they’ll do all that work and not get to go, and then I’m like `Wait, that’s exactly what happened to me.’’’
Ableman said the 1980 boycott seems so long ago, but he feels their pain.
“I feel so bad for these guys, but we’ll pick up the pieces on the other side,” he said. “If it is postponed and not canceled, that will be a small victory for someone like David [Dinsmore] because this is likely his last year in the sport. If it is just postponement, that will keep his dream alive.”
Olympic diving hopefuls on hold
Dinsmore, Zach Cooper, and Biadam Herrera are U.S. Olympic hopeful divers training with Ableman. Australian diver Brodie Scapens and Canadian Mia Vallee also train at the UM pool. The pool closed March 13, so they have been training individually at home on trampolines.
“It happened to me when I was 20, and I figured I’d just go again in four years,” Ableman said. “I was on the top of my game. When you’re young and bulletproof, you think all you have is time. The next Olympics rolled around, you had to be top two in our country to go, and I was fifth. And that was it. That was the end of my career. That stung, for sure.”
Shakima Wimbley was poised to medal
UM track and field coach Amy Deem, who was the U.S. Olympic Women’s Track Coach for the 2012 London Games, has also been dealing with anxious Olympic hopeful athletes the past few weeks.
Shakima Wimbley is the reigning world champion in the 1,600-meter relay, won the 400-meter silver medal in the 2018 indoor world championships and was poised to make a medal podium in Tokyo. Margaret Bamgbose, an 11-time All-American at Notre Dame and Nigerian Olympic hopeful, had moved to Miami this year to train with Deem. Heptathlete Michelle Atherley and hurdler Tiara McMinn were also aiming for Tokyo.
“The best thing they could do is announce a decision on the Olympics because the past few weeks, the athletes started hearing this meet got canceled and that meet got canceled, the facilities they train are closed, so they’re scrambling, and the anxiety level kept rising,” said Deem, who is passing the time taking multiple walks per day with her dog, Kahlua. “There’s been no timetable. People can deal with the known, it’s the unknown that sometimes you struggle with.”
Deem said it has become increasingly difficult to motivate athletes because they are not sure what and when they are training for. Deem said she gave her athletes individual workouts, circuits they can do at their houses.
Gymnasts training at home
A lot of athletes were looking forward to a UM-hosted meet last weekend to see where they are, get races in, and make adjustments in training. “It’s been a lot for them to process,” Deem said.
Across town in Doral, at the Elite Gymnastics Academy, coach Yin Alvarez is also watching Olympic dreams deferred. Alvarez, the father of 2012 and 2016 Olympic medalist Danell Leyva, was coaching three Olympic hopefuls — Didier Logo of Colombia, Petrix Barbosa of Portugal, and Jaime DaSilva of Puerto Rico.
Alvarez is teaching gymnastics classes via Zoom conferencing.
“I am very sad for these gymnasts because they have trained so many years for this moment,” Alvarez said. “For some, this is their last shot. Their window will close. But we have to put health first ahead of sports. This is very bad, something you only read about in history books. I have many friends from gymnastics in Italy and Spain, and they tell me to take this very seriously. We can’t take any chances, even though canceling the Olympics will break so many hearts.”