Japanese Swimmer Ikee Eliminated in Women’s 100-meter Butterfly Semifinal at 2024 Paris Games; Vows to Get Revenge at Next Olympics

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:30 JST, July 28, 2024

PARIS — Swimmer Rikako Ikee failed to advance to the final of the women’s 100-meter butterfly after finishing sixth in the first heat of the semifinal at the Paris Olympics with a time of 57.79 seconds on Saturday.

Ikee finished 14th in the qualifying round. She was third at the semifinal’s halfway mark but slowed down and could not advance to the final. The results differed for Mizuki Hirai who swam in the same heat and advanced to the top eight.

“The race, to be honest, made me feel like my efforts did not pay off at all,” Ikee said in an interview. Her voice broke with emotion as she spoke, and her eyes were red from crying. The race apparently brought back memories of her years of overcoming leukemia to return to the competitive world stage.

The swimmer only competed in the relay event at the Tokyo Games in 2021. This year, she competed in an individual event for the first time since Rio de Janeiro in 2016, when she was a first-year high school student.

Given her illness, the fact she returned to the global competition stage is surprising enough. However, Ikee’s will to compete is strong.

“Ultimately, it is a world of victory and defeat, so there’s no point if you don’t win. I couldn’t give my best efforts in the race, so that’s how it ended. I want to return to the next Olympics, four years from now, to get revenge,” Ikee said in a positive tone.