Some of Japan’s top athletes have expressed mixed feelings following Tuesday’s announcement that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the International Olympic Committee had agreed to postpone the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics for “about a year” amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
Veteran female sport climber Akiyo Noguchi said in an Instagram post Tuesday night that she “can’t find the right way to control my mind” upon learning the unprecedented news (in peacetime) of the games being delayed.
“But I’ve set the Tokyo Olympics in August as the final stage I’ll compete on, so I’ll take it as a positive that I’ll be able to spend more time as an athlete,” the 30-year-old climber added. Noguchi intends to retire from the sport following the Olympics.