When Olympic Delay Takes You to the Games

TOKYO – Had the coronavirus pandemic not been there, Dayli Salaman would not have been at the Summer Olympics.

He will not wear a Puerto Rican uniform when he appears in court on Tuesday. She will not represent her homeland as it marks her first appearance in a women’s basketball competition. She will not be living her dream.

On February 9, 2020, during the qualifying tournament in which Puerto Rico made it to the Tokyo Games, Salamon amputated his left knee. When she landed after late, she bowed down.

The dislocation tore his anterior cruciate ligament and ruptured his medial collateral ligament. The arena fell silent when a point guard known as “Dinamita” (Dynamite) could not get up to awaken his energy on Salamon Court. Those present heard her scream, “Dios mio, no.” (“My god, no.”)

“What was going through my mind was not about the present – ‘Oh no, I’m not going to be able to finish this game,'” Salmon, 31, later said in Spanish in an interview. “It was about my future.”

The postponement of the Olympics by a year due to the pandemic disrupted the plans of many athletes. Some have to put off personal decisions – whether to enroll in college, have children or professional turn In his sport – to continue training for another year. Failed to qualify for some events. Missed some games.

Yet for a small group like Salmon, the delay presented an unexpected opportunity.

For 21-year-old Rikako Iki, Japanese swimmer who was hospitalized 10 months in 2019 With leukemia, she had extra time to regain her strength and qualify for the Olympics, which she was originally going to miss. Kim Jae-deokiThe 17-year-old South Korean archer, who won two gold medals last week, was recovering from a shoulder ailment that prevented him from participating last summer.

Alex Morgan, 32, a star football player from the United States, spent time with his newborn daughter race against the clock To get ready for the 2020 Games. And 26-year-old Delaney Spaulding, the starting shortstop for the United States softball team, could opt to have surgery on her injured right knee.

“It’s a little weird to think about,” Spaulding said in a recent interview. “I kind of take a step back and think, ‘Delaney, this is so selfish.’ But at the same time, I think there must be something good that comes out of such darkness.”

In February 2020, Spaulding tore his ACL and meniscus in an exhibition game for Team USA; When she walked off the field, she ran into the dugout and burst into tears, “realizing it was slipping,” she said at the Olympics.

It will take nine to 12 months to recover from surgery. But Spaulding initially opted to skip the operation and instead rehabilitated his knee through physical therapy and still wore a brace to play in the sport. then came postponement of olympics on 24 March 2020.

Spaulding immediately called Team USA officials and asked for surgery as soon as possible. Although no makeup dates were announced for the summer of 2021, she thought it was time to get her knee fixed.

He gambled right.

As of March 2021, Spaulding was playing for Team USA in an exhibition sport that was trusted by team officials and others when he had previously committed to maintaining the Olympic roster despite the postponement. And in Tokyo, Spaulding helped the top-ranked American squad reach the gold medal game, which they lost 2-0 to rival Japan on Tuesday.

Also that day, Salmon played his first game at the Olympics, a 97–55 defeat by Puerto Rico to China, capping a 16-month journey for him. He played only four games for his professional team in Sweden when he suffered a knee injury with the Puerto Rico team in France.

He went to the island to be examined by a national team doctor and waited four weeks for his MCL to heal and the swelling to subside so that his ACL could be repaired. At the time, the pandemic shut down Puerto Rico and canceled all non-urgent surgeries, including hers. But then the Olympics were postponed, an opening for Salamon to recover and to complete a goal that had previously slipped.

“I know half the athletes are like, ‘Why? This was my year and I don’t know what’s going to happen next year,'” she said shortly after the shutdown last year. “I put myself in those athletes’ place. . Which was very happy for the opportunity in Tokyo 2020 and now it has been changed to 2021. It hurts, but it also gives me hope. “

Salaman had surgery in April 2020 and almost a year later, he was medically cleared to return to action. He overcame a setback in his recovery – a swelling in his knee that healed in a matter of months – and earned him his place back on the national team, suspecting he would have to reach one of his remaining dreams. Will have to give extra time. used as inspiration.

Salaman came to the mainland United States at the age of 15 without speaking English to further his education and basketball career. He attended Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee and earned a degree in kinesiology.

“I come from a barrio and in America to graduate from college, the first time in my family, I accomplished a lot of my goals through basketball,” she said. “Going to the Olympics would be incredible. I will make history in my barrio, whatever I want, and for my family.

Apart from a few trips to see his loved ones, Salmon has spent much of the pandemic away from his partner and his home in Puerto Rico, his grandmother’s home in his hometown of Carolina, to rehabilitate his knee. Live in Tampa, Fla. Salaman used that time to change his diet and improve his physique and is now, he said, a different player – but his trademark is off the bench nonetheless.

As the Tokyo Olympics ended and Concerns still remain over raging pandemic, Salaman said he tried to ignore any conversations he had with his family and friends to avoid any news about or about a possible cancellation.

She said that she prays for strength every night. She feels bad that she is now in Tokyo due to a deadly pandemic, looking forward to her first game with a healthy knee. But she also believes that a piece of good can emerge from so bad.

“Sometimes you don’t get a second chance,” she said, “and I got a second chance. I feel really blessed and lucky.”