Fit to sprint: North Vancouver athlete gears up for Summer Olympic Games

NORTH VANCOUVER (SPORTSNET 650) — An Olympian from North Vancouver is finally gearing up for this month’s Summer Games in Tokyo after the Olympics were delayed by the pandemic.

Lindsey Butterworth was focusing on her Olympic dream of representing Canada in the 800-metre run, then the pandemic shut the world down. But rather than feeling defeated, the North Vancouver native said it had the opposite effect.

“What really helped me is to just focus on day-by-day and not look at it so much as a delay, but more just extra time to get better than I already was,” she says.


Athletes will be in a bubble and will undergo daily COVID-19 testing. Seats at venues will also be empty, but Butterworth says that’s just fine with her.

“It doesn’t really matter if they’re fans or not in the stands at this point. I’m just really happy that we’re able to compete, because the level of competition doesn’t change. It’s still the best in the world that we’re competing against, which is what we worked so hard to be able to be up against,” she says.

“I feel pretty safe going into the games, and I think that it’s definitely set up well to keep athletes and the citizens of Tokyo safe.”

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The games are scheduled to begin on July 23.

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