A portion of U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky's training for the Tokyo Olympics included swimming in a neighbor's backyard pool while California was under lockdown due to COVID-19.
In Cuba, there was a period when judoka Idalys Ortiz was not able to train at all because of the pandemic. French swimmer Florent Manaudou, meanwhile, said that since he already trained at a private pool, he was not affected when businesses began closing around him.
The difficulties foreign athletes faced just to get to the Tokyo Olympics were as varied as the athletes themselves. The pandemic disrupted training schedules and travel plans and took a toll on the physical and mental health of many athletes in the months leading up to the Games. Once in Japan, they competed while facing virus prevention measures and life in the so-called Olympic bubble during an unusual Games being staged in a city under a state of emergency.