An athlete retrieves arrows from the board during a training session at the Sambodromo Olympic Archery venue on 2 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)
2016 Getty Images
As the world marks six months to go until the Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020 spoke to the athletes who will be competing about their life in numbers.
Yesterday - 23 January - marked six months to go until the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. For the athletes who will participate, this represents the last stretch of the road to Tokyo. But it also means they will soon reach the most intense period of their preparation.
From now onwards, thousands of experienced and soon-to-be Olympians will gradually intensify their training in order to reach their peak condition by the time the Games begin.
But can you imaging what those numbers really mean? How many kilometres a runner runs, hours an equestrian rider spends on their horse or shots a handball player throws?
Tokyo 2020 spoke to the athletes about their training life in numbers, with six months to go until the Olympic Games.
Charlotte Worthington, Great Britain, BMX Freestyle
Team GB's Charlotte Worthington is a World Championship bronze medallist and the first-ever BMX freestyle European champion. She's looking to add to her medal haul with an Olympic gold, having already qualified for Tokyo 2020.
Click below to find out how many new tricks Charlotte Worthington learns in six months.
Thanks to her outstanding exhibition at the Panams 2019, Waleska Soto got her quota for Tokyo 2020, having shifted sports from softball to shooting. Her ambition is to take her place on the podium when the Olympics take place in six months time.
Click below to find out how many shots Waleska Soto fires in six months.
100,000
“I’ve never thought about it! I would say around 200,000 shots in a year, maybe. So it would be 100,000 in half a year. Every training session we take around 200 shots, but it is more when we are in competition.” – Waleska Soto
Rio 2016 Olympian Alexi Pappas is a multi-talented athlete who has written and starred in two Hollywood movies, as well as writing a newly-released biographical book titled Bravey.
Click below to find out how many pairs of running through Alexi Pappas goes through in six months.
10
"I run, when I'm at peak training, around 100 miles a week, it can be as much as 120, so I go through more than one pair of shoes a month - and that's just training shoes." - Alexi Pappas
Thomas Chirault is France's new archery sensation He broke the indoor national record last December with a score of 598/600, and has high expectations for Tokyo 2020. To reach his goal, he will need to shoot a lot of arrows. But how many will he shoot before the Games?
Click below to find out how many arrows Chirault shoots in six months.
37,500
"It's around 1,500 arrows per week!" - Thomas Chirault
Anriquelis Barrios is aiming to make her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020. She is currently placed 13th in the -63kg Olympic Rankings . If the Olympics were to take place today she would have qualified but she has until 28 June 2021 to secure her quota.
Click below to find out how many bouts Anriquelis Barrios fights in six months.
2,125 bouts
“I am at the University of Tokai, in Japan and we take part in many bouts during training sessions. So the bouts are divided into tachi waza and ne waza. In general, there are 20 bouts: 15 tachi waza (standing) and 5 ne waza (floor). So if I multiply 20 by 5 days per week, it is 100 bouts per week, and so 400 per month. That would be 2.400 in six months, but I am deducting some because normally I don’t do the 20 bouts every day. From that, I will add on the bouts that I have during competitions. In general, I take part in five or six bouts per event. During these six months I will take part in three or four more tournaments, so around 20 or 25 more bouts. That’s how I arrived at the number of 2,125 bouts in six months” – Anriquelis Barrios.
French discus thrower Mélina Robert-Michon is aiming for gold at Tokyo 2020, following the gold she in Rio. In order to achieve her goal, she will need to complete a lot of discus throws!
Click below to find out how many discuses Robert-Michon throws in six months.
4,500
"I usually do nine to 10 throwing sessions a week and five physical sessions a week. I use different discuses to train specifically, ranging from 900g to 1.25kg, and I also train for the movements using other tools (towards up, towards front, towards back) and those can reach up to 200 throws per sessions", the French athlete said.
