Local athletes look forward to making their (postponed!) Olympic debut in 2021

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - July 23rd marks the one year-to-go mark for the Tokyo Olympics ... again.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic moved the start of the summer games back one year — along with surfing’s Olympic debut.

Local surfer Carissa Moore was looking forward to competing in Japan, but remains optimistic with an extra year to prepare for Tokyo.

“Obviously, it’s a little disappointing that things got postponed this year,” Moore told Hawaii News Now. “But I’m just really grateful to still be a part of the USA team and that the Olympics are still happening a year out from now and to have one more year to just train, to get excited and to anticipate everything.”

With the games officially pushed back and most professional sports about to restart after a long hiatus — Moore says that the 2021 games will be more important than ever.

“I think these Olympics are going to be extra special,” Moore said. “Because i think this is a tough time for everyone and i really feel like sports bring people together and especially during this time, it’ll bring us together even more, sports is positive, its uplifting and it’s a distraction, something else for us to focus on, so it’ll be a time of celebration.”

Along with surfing, skateboarding was also set to debut as an Olympic sport — fellow Hawaii native Heimana Reynolds was excited to represent the USA on its first national skateboarding team.

“We’ve been looking forward to it for so long, having the date in mind, this year skateboarding is going to be in the Olympics, it’s going to happen, it’s only a couple months away, it’s only this far away and then getting that date taken away from us and getting pushed back, it was hard at first of course, but there’s nothing we can do,” Reynolds told Hawaii News Now. “We just want to stay safe, we want our families to stay safe, we want everyone to get through this pandemic in the best way we can, so that when the Olympics do come through in 2021, we’ll be ready for it.”

Reynolds recently moved to San Diego to train at Team USA’s skateboarding facility, while Moore remained here in the 808, saying that she was blessed to be able to catch waves during the lock down.

“Being able to get in the water everyday has been a gift and just to be able to ride waves and surf and train has definitely kept me sane and happy.” Moore said.

Both Moore and Reynolds take the postponement as a positive — giving them more time to train — but now they must wait an extra year before they head to the land of the rising sun.

The 2021 Summer Olympic Games are set to start one year from today — July 23rd.

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