As Rikako Ikee swam at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Koto Ward, her former swimming club members were among those who cheered her on from her hometown of neighboring Edogawa Ward.
The 21-year-old Ikee was swimming in the Olympics on Saturday, completing her tough journey to participate in the Tokyo Games after battling leukemia. She had made her Olympic debut at the 2016 Rio Summer Games and was a rising star before her diagnosis.
When Ikee was in elementary school, she regularly went to Tokyo Dolphin Club's Edogawa Swimming School in the Higashi-Koiwa area of the ward.
That Saturday evening in the swimming school, five of Ikee's former coaches and club mates who vied with her for the best times in the pool during those formative years watched the TV broadcast of the Japan women's team in its 4x100-meter freestyle relay heat.
When Ikee appeared poolside on the screen, they watched with bated breath, then shouted, "Go, Ikee, go!"
Among the attendees was Kana Furuse, 23, who lives in the ward and is part of the staff at the swimming school.
"From a disease like that, ordinary people cannot return to this level in such a short period of time," Furuse said. "Rikako is great, just as I thought."
Furuse first met Ikee around the time she was in second grade of elementary school. She said Ikee broke the ice, saying, "Hey, who are you?"
"As a child, she was not shy of strangers and talked to anybody," Furuse said. "Things haven't changed."
Though Ikee is two years younger than Furuse, Ikee had attended the swimming school earlier. The two took training courses in the same pool and competed for the best times.
After Ikee changed her training base to Renaissance Kameido in Koto Ward in junior high school, she then appeared in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics as a 16-year-old high school student. Ikee competed in seven events, finishing fifth in the 100-meter butterfly, and thus was expected to pull off some great results for Tokyo 2020.
But in February 2019, she announced that she had leukemia. Only in December that year did she leave the hospital.
Ikee later visited the swimming school in Edogawa Ward, and Furuse, then a university student, met her again after a long time.
"I was getting quite nervous as I thought she might be depressed," Furuse said. "I managed to say, 'Long time no see,' and I was relieved because her personality had not changed at all."
In the Japan swimming championship in April this year, Ikee finished first in a 100-meter butterfly race and her time allowed her to compete in an Olympic relay, paving the way for her second Olympic Games.
"I was glad to see Rikako shine as she swam," Furse said. "I wanted to tell her, 'Welcome back.'"
While Ikee and the rest of the relay team were not fast enough to qualify for the final, Furuse was excited to see Ikee in her next race in the Games.
"It seemed that she had a lot of fun during her swim," Furuse said. "Rikako hates to lose so she's probably frustrated, but it's not the end for her."
--Cheering online
That same evening, 180 households in the ward simultaneously cheered Ikee on using online videoconference systems.
The online event was organized by the Edogawa Ward Office as an alternative to the canceled public viewing event.
A cable TV station set up a special studio that linked up with the households. Elementary school students and their parents were among those watching Ikee's swim together in the online community.
The participants held up posters with handwritten messages such as "Fight for the gold medal" and "You can do it!"
When Ikee finished her leg of the relay, the online spectators could be seen clapping.
"I was so impressed by Ikee that I shed tears," one of the online spectators said. "Watching Ikee's performance gave me encouragement."
ong the people in Edogawa Ward connected online to cheer on Ikee on Saturday.
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