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How Covid-19 gave Japanese boxing nurse a fighting chance to enter the Tokyo Olympics
- Arisa Tsubata took up boxing to lose weight after becoming a nurse, and won a national championship after two years
- Because of the pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics have been postponed for a year, giving her a better chance to qualify
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Olympic boxing hopeful Arisa Tsubata is used to taking blows in the ring, but it is during her work as a nurse that she faces her toughest opponent: coronavirus.
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The 27-year-old juggles a brutal training regime in boxing gloves with long, irregular hours in surgical gloves at a hospital near Tokyo.
Tsubata mainly treats cancer patients, but says the virus is a constant threat, with medical experts warning at the peak of the pandemic that Japan’s health system was close to collapse.
“We always face the risk of infection at medical facilities,” she said. “My colleagues and I have all worked under the stress of possibly getting infected.”
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Like most elite athletes, the virus played havoc with Tsubata’s training schedules, meaning she welcomed the postponement of this year’s Tokyo Olympics until 2021.
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