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Countdown during Lockdown

June 8, 2021

Postponed by a year. Plagued by existential rumors. The Tokyo Olympics have had a rocky road, thus far. But what’s it like for the athletes?

https://p.dw.com/p/3uaHw
Japan | Vor den Olympischen Spielen in Tokio
Image: kyodo/dpa/picture alliance

Japan Olympische Spiele 2020 in Tokio
Image: Morio Taga/Jiji Press Photo/dpa/picture alliance

This film looks at how Olympic hopefuls experience Olympic-sized uncertainties, under the already strained circumstances of a global pandemic. Despite the rampant Coronavirus pandemic, the mythos of the Olympic Games is alive and well. The world’s top athletes dream of participating, though only a fraction of them will make it that far. 

Sports Life | Rocky Road to the Olympic - Thomas Röhler
Image: DW

This film accompanies four athletes over the course of a year, as they try to reach the Olympic Games in Tokyo. For fencer Alexandra Ndolo, high jumper Marie-Laurence Jungfleisch, javelin thrower Thomas Röhler and taekwondo master Madeline Folgmann, the time leading up to the Summer Games constitutes the greatest sporting challenge of their lives. 

Alexandra Ndolo Fechterin Deutschland Köln
Image: Getty Images/L. Baron


The postponement of the Games throws a wrench in their intensive training plans. It also forces them to confront some uncomfortable questions. What if all of this intensive preparation goes to waste? Are they working towards a moment in their lives that may never come? 

Madeline Folgmann | Taekwondo
Image: Lars Baron/Bongarts/Getty Images


These four competitive athletes experience a year full of disruption, hardships, health risks, small successes, and big disappointments. For one athlete, the pandemic even becomes a stroke of luck - but can she take advantage of it? 
 

Marie-Laurence Jungfleisch Leichtathletik Hochsprung
Image: Michael Kappeler/dpa/picture alliance


The challenges that these elite athletes face striving for their dream of competing in the Olympic Games are unique. It is a time that will leave its mark on these athletes, as they embark on a journey with an uncertain outcome.




Broadcasting Hours: 

DW English

MON 19.07.2021 – 01:15 UTC
MON 19.07.2021 – 04:15 UTC
TUE 20.07.2021 – 09:15 UTC
SAT 24.07.2021 – 12:15 UTC
SUN 25.07.2021 – 15:15 UTC

Cape Town UTC +2 | Delhi UTC +5,5 | Hong Kong UTC +8
Lagos UTC +1 | Cape Town UTC +2 | Nairobi UTC +3 
San Francisco UTC -7 | Edmonton UTC -6 | New York UTC -4
London UTC +1 | Berlin UTC +2 | Moscow UTC +3

DW Deutsch+

TUE 20.07.2021 – 09:15 UTC

Vancouver UTC -7 | New York UTC -4 | Sao Paulo UTC -3