Rower Dr Felice Aisha Chow will open T&T’s participation at the long-awaited Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan on Thursday.
The 2020 Games, which was delayed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, will officially begin on Friday with the opening ceremony at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium from 7 am (T&T time).
Chow will compete in heat two of the women’s single sculls against five other rowers including Kathleen Noble of Uganda, Anneta Kyridou (Greece), Joan Poh (Singapore), Sanita Puspure (Ireland) and Kenia Lechuga (Mexico) at 8.40 pm (T&T time) at the Sea Forest Waterway.
The 44-year-old T&T rower will race out of lane three and will use her physical fitness, technique and speed to be among the top three finishers, who will be automatic qualifiers to progress to the quarterfinals set for Friday. The remaining rowers will compete in repechage for a second chance at advancing to the next round. The semifinals are carded for Saturday with the medal race early next week.
The local rower, who is being coached by Sarah Trobridge, is the first Olympic participant in rowing for T&T. She made her debut at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games and placed 22nd overall. This after, the 2019 Pan American singles sculls silver medallist finished fourth in the ‘D’ final posting with a time of seven minutes and 50.23 seconds.
Next in action for the red, white and black will be sailor Andrew Lewis on Saturday night.
Lewis, who is featuring at his third Olympic Games, sails into action in the men’s laser event at Kamakura from 11 pm (T&T time). He will compete in a series of races (10) and points in each race are awarded according to position: the winner gets one point, the second-placed finisher scores two and so on. The final race is called the medal race, for which points are doubled. Following the medal race, the sailor with the fewest total points is declared the winner.
Lewis, who represented T&T at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Games, will seek out the top spots in races one and two in the morning session and later in races three and four in the evening session.
On Sunday, two more T&T athletes will take on the best athletes in the world in their respective sport.
They are, the respective First Citizens Sports Foundation and T&T Olympic Committee’s (TTOC) “Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year”, cyclist Teniel Campbell and swimmer Dylan Carter.
Campbell, the first T&T women’s cyclist to qualify for the Olympics, will have this country’s first chance at a medal when she tackles the road race at 12 am at the Fuji International Speedway.
Carter, competing at his second Olympics, will dive into action in the men’s 100 metres freestyle with the heats starting at 7.19 am at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.