Japan Leukaemia Survivor Ikee to Swim at Paris Olympics

Rikako Ikee celebrates a bronze medal for the women's 50m butterfly at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year. Manan VATSYAYANA / AFP
Rikako Ikee celebrates a bronze medal for the women's 50m butterfly at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year. Manan VATSYAYANA / AFP
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Japan Leukaemia Survivor Ikee to Swim at Paris Olympics

Rikako Ikee celebrates a bronze medal for the women's 50m butterfly at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year. Manan VATSYAYANA / AFP
Rikako Ikee celebrates a bronze medal for the women's 50m butterfly at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year. Manan VATSYAYANA / AFP

Leukaemia survivor Rikako Ikee will compete for Japan in the 100m butterfly at the Paris Olympics after missing out on an individual place at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
Three-time world champion Daiya Seto will swim the men's individual medley after Japan's 27-member team for the Paris Games was announced by the country's Swimming Federation on Wednesday.
An 18-year-old Ikee was named MVP of the 2018 Asian Games after claiming six golds and two silvers, and was expected to be one of the stars of the Tokyo Olympics, said AFP.
In early 2019, a few months after those triumphs, she was diagnosed with leukemia and spent around 10 months in hospital.
She only returned to competition in August 2020 and completed an incredible comeback by winning the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly at the 2021 Olympic trials.
Her times were not fast enough to qualify for the individual events in Tokyo but the performances gained her selection for both freestyle and medley relay teams at her home Olympics.
Now 23, Ikee secured her place in the 100m butterfly by just 0.01sec at Japan's trials earlier this month as she held off the fast-finishing Matsumoto Shiho to finish second in 57.34sec.
"In the end I think it was my long arms that won the touch," Ikee was quoted as saying by Olympics.com.
"I think God was on my side today."
The race was won in an impressive 56.91sec by 17-year-old Haiari Mazuki, one of several talented Japanese teenagers in the team.
Also heading to Paris are Mio Narita, 17, in the women's individual medley and Tomoyuki Matsushita, 18, who swims the same event for men.
"I'm glad lots of veterans and young talent made it to the national team this time," Daichi Suzuki, the swimming federation chief, was reported as saying by Japan media.
"I hope to see them on the podium with Japan's national flag on their shoulders in Paris," he added.



Lewis Hamilton Steps Out in Red at Unprecedented 10-Team F1 Launch 

Formula One F1 - F1 75 Live Season Launch - The O2, London, Britain - February 18, 2025 Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton with team principal Frederic Vasseur and Charles Leclerc during the launch. (Reuters)
Formula One F1 - F1 75 Live Season Launch - The O2, London, Britain - February 18, 2025 Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton with team principal Frederic Vasseur and Charles Leclerc during the launch. (Reuters)
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Lewis Hamilton Steps Out in Red at Unprecedented 10-Team F1 Launch 

Formula One F1 - F1 75 Live Season Launch - The O2, London, Britain - February 18, 2025 Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton with team principal Frederic Vasseur and Charles Leclerc during the launch. (Reuters)
Formula One F1 - F1 75 Live Season Launch - The O2, London, Britain - February 18, 2025 Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton with team principal Frederic Vasseur and Charles Leclerc during the launch. (Reuters)

Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton appeared in Ferrari red for the first time outside of Italy as Formula One put on an unprecedented and spectacular 10-team season launch in front of 15,000 fans on Tuesday.

The 40-year-old Briton, who has moved from Mercedes, got the loudest cheer of the night when he took the stage for an event that coincided with the birthday of his Italian team's late founder Enzo.

"I feel so full of life, so much energy, because everything's new and I'm just focused on what is up ahead," Hamilton told his home crowd at London's 02 Arena.

"I'm so proud to be part of the team. Something new and exciting for me."

The two-hour show, with British comedian and host Jack Whitehall gently ribbing the protagonists, featured lights, lasers and musical acts including former boy band Take That and US country singer Kane Brown.

Liberty Media-owned Formula One said early in the evening that its YouTube channel had smashed through the one-million viewers mark, breaking a previous live-event record of 289,000.

"This event is all about the fans and without the fans there is no sport," Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told reporters before the show started.

"I'm sure it's probably the last place that the drivers want to be, paraded out in front of a stadium full of fans, but Formula One is an entertainment, it's a show, and it's the 75th anniversary (of the championship).

"So a huge amount of effort has gone into tonight by Formula One and all 10 teams."

There was a time when the teams struggled to agree even on what day it was, but Formula One's surging popularity and revenues have concentrated minds.

The success of Netflix docu-series Drive to Survive, and the arrival in cinemas later this year of Brad Pitt's Hollywood drama F1, led to tickets for the event selling out in a matter of minutes.

The show, featuring all 20 drivers, was broadcast live around the world and streamed on social media.

"It feels like there's a big rock concert about and ready to happen," American Zak Brown, chief executive of champions McLaren, told reporters earlier.

"I've been a fan for a while of doing more fan events, whether that's a launch or making the testing that we do a little bit more focused on the fan."

The teams each had just seven minutes to present their liveries - the cars either old ones re-painted or engineless shells made just for show that will not go anywhere near a circuit.

Red Bull's at least had an engine in it, but Sauber had announced well in advance that theirs would be auctioned off after the event.

New Zealand's Liam Lawson and four-time world champion Max Verstappen took the stage for Red Bull, but neither spoke.

Lawson is set to compete in his first full season in Formula 1.

Ferrari, last year's runners-up, will be launching their 2025 car at Maranello on Wednesday while McLaren and Williams ran theirs at Silverstone last week in interim liveries.