Alex Hua Tian takes a selfie at the Olympic Village in Tokyo on July 20. (Photo courtesy of Alex Hua Tian)
By sportswriter Wang Zijiang
TOKYO, July 20 (Xinhua) -- China's star eventing rider Alex Hua Tian has arrived in Tokyo for his third Olympic Games.
Hua Tian, who made history 13 years ago by becoming the world's youngest Olympic event rider at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, flew from London to Tokyo's Haneda Airport and checked into the Olympic Village on Monday night.
"When you're traveling from the U.K. where the incidence of coronavirus is growing very quickly at the moment, I do feel safe," said Hua Tian. "It is the honest answer."
"From the moment I arrived here, every single athlete that I've seen has been exceptionally responsible in how they are handling it. You can get the feeling that every athlete is genuinely grateful that the Olympics is happening."
Hua Tian said that after landing at Tokyo, "99 percent of the work is done, and 99.5 percent of the work will be done when the horse lands safely."
Hua Tian salutes the crowd after the awards ceremony of the eventing individual event at the 2018 Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)
The journey for his horse Don Geniro, with whom he finished eighth at the Rio Olympics, proved much more complicated than the rider, largely because of complications related to Brexit. The horse had to travel from Britain to Belgium, where he is awaiting a flight to Tokyo.
"We were just so stressed about the paperwork," he said of the horse traveling across the border between Britain and the European Union. "It has been a nightmare from beginning to end."
He said that the horse is expected to arrive on the early morning of July 22, one day before the opening of the Olympics.
Compared with COVID-19, Hua Tian is more worried about Tokyo's extreme weather. The Japanese capital is famous for summer temperatures in the mid-to-high 30s accompanied by smothering humidity. In July 2018, when a heatwave struck the country, temperatures rose to 40 degrees Celsius.
"The hot weather will be really difficult," he said. "The temperature will have an enormous impact on who will do well and who won't do well. I have never encountered this level of humidity before. I would say all of the riders here in all three disciplines do not know how they will perform in this heat."
Hua Tian sits astride his horse Don during a press conference in Cheshire, U.K., on May 14, 2021. (Photo by Ray Tang/Xinhua)
Unlike his first two Olympic Games, Hua Tian, who has a Chinese father and an English mother, will not have any family members to watch his competition at the venue, with only his horse's groom traveling with him from London.
"It's very sad," he said. "But I hope, speaking for all of athletes, that we totally understand the reasons. We are totally supportive of it, and we'll do everything we can to deliver a safe Games. It's really, really important."
"But equally, at the same time, we will all be saddened that we can't have any spectators and that, of course, includes all of your friends and families and loved ones that normally are able to share in the experience with you and share the achievements with you."
"We've known that for 18 months now, we will accept that, but I will be very happy if the next Olympic Games goes back to normal."
Hua Tian, the first Chinese eventing rider to compete at the Olympics in 2008, will this time compete in both individual and team events, which will be a first in China's equestrian history. In just 13 years, he has single-handedly lifted the profile of a sport that few people in China knew of.
Training and competing mostly in Europe, he feels the Olympics are a valuable opportunity to be part of the Chinese team.
"I couldn't attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics because the equestrian sports were held in Hong Kong. But I love the opening ceremony in Rio. If there's an opportunity for me to go to the opening ceremony here, I will always be happy to go," he said.
