In the year 2021, Uganda’s female sprinter, Shida Leni has one key objective on her mind, that is to qualify for the 2020 July Tokyo Olympics.
However, to do so, she must improve her 400m National Record (51.47 sec) by just 0.12 sec, which is equivalent to around 90cms, in order to achieve the Olympic qualifying time of 51.35 sec.
Shida, 27, has been trained for over 7 years by the husband and wife coaching team of Kevin and Sue O’Connor. In that time she has made substantial progress, breaking the 400m National Record on 7 occasions, then in 2019 the 200m National Record, as well as winning 400m Silver Medal at the World University Games in Italy, narrowly missing out on Gold. Until Shida broke them, both these National Records had stood for over a decade.
Coach Kevin says that Shida Leni can qualify for the Tokyo do if she remains in good shape and also capitalize on her previous ‘bests.’
“Provided we can keep her uninjured and in good health, I am quietly confident she can qualify for Tokyo. I have been encouraged by the large number of personal bests she has set in weight-training at Silver Springs Hotel’s Espace Gym. She has entered 2021 stronger than she has ever been in her life. I must commend the hotel for giving her complimentary use of its wonderful gym until the Olympics. She trains there 3 times per week, as well as doing some swimming in its pool,” Coach Kevin said.
Coach Kevin, “is London-based and he and his team will be setting up a racing programme for her in Europe later this year.”
The 2020 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, and commonly known as Tokyo 2020, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to be held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.
Originally due to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the event was postponed in March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite being rescheduled for 2021, the Games have retained the “Tokyo 2020” name for marketing and branding purposes.
This marks the first time that the Olympic Games have been postponed rather than cancelled.
