Lausanne, Switzerland, June 22, 2021: FINA has announced the confirmed list of 50 qualifiers for the 10km open water swimming competition at Tokyo 2020.
The announcement follows the FINA Marathon Swim Olympic Qualifier at Setubal, Portugal over the weekend when 15 places were available in both the women’s and men’s events. These were in addition to the 10 swimmers who had qualified earlier and completed the 25-strong field in each event.
At Setubal, the two continental spots for Asia were claimed by Chantal Liew, who became the first Singaporean open water swimmer to qualify for the Olympics, and by Bill Thorley, who had a similar honour for Hong Kong, China.
The men’s field for Tokyo includes: Taishin Minamide (Japan, sixth at the qualifier) and William Yan Thorley (Hong Kong, China, 26th at the qualifier).
The women’s field includes: Xin Xin (China, first at the World Championships Gwangju 2019), Yumi Kida (Japan, 12th at the qualifier) and Chantal Liew Li-Shan (Singapore, 29th at the qualifier).
FINA President Husain Al-Musallam summed up the success of the qualifying races in Setubal: “You have really shown your strength during these difficult times of the pandemic, and you are ready for this day,” he was quoted by FINA.
“Winning is important but taking part in this important event amid these difficult times that the world is facing, not only in sport but in all other fields and sectors, show that sport is always bringing hope - hope for humanity, hope for society that normal life will come back.”
The new FINA President concluded: “Open water is always an important event in the aquatic calendar and, as the newly elected President, I promise you I will be very close to you, to your coaches and referees.
“I want to listen to everybody. If you have any opinion, or point you would like to discuss that could help FINA, I am ready to listen.”
Source: www.fina.org
