Rikako Ikee (25), a competitive swimmer who overcame a serious illness to compete in the Tokyo and Paris Olympic Games, appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) on July 23. She talked about how she felt when she was diagnosed with leukemia as a third-year high school student.
At the time, Ikee was training in Australia and had been suffering from poor health.
"I usually take naps, but when I wake up I feel so fatigued. I can't get up after waking up, and it's really hard to lift my arms to wash my hair. Using a hair dryer is also really hard. I get out of breath just by walking up a flight of stairs."
After undergoing a blood test, the doctor there told him to "go home immediately and get a thorough examination," so he rushed back to Japan. He was soon diagnosed with leukemia. "Rather than being surprised, I was just like, 'Oh, so that's what it was,' because I had been feeling unwell for a while. My swimming was going really badly. It may sound strange, but I was glad to find out that the cause was an illness," he recalled.
On the program, a photo of Ikee on her 19th birthday was shown. In the photo, Ikee was wearing a hat and said, "At that time, I had no hair (due to the effects of chemotherapy). I was the type of person who didn't mind not having hair, but I thought that people around me would be concerned about it, so I started wearing a hat in public."
After her hair fell out, she joked, "My head became so smooth. It's so smooth that I really love touching my head. I can wash my body and head with just one bottle of body soap (laughs)."
When Tetsuko asked, "When you found out you were sick, did you think, 'Oh, I wish I had done more' and was going on group dates one of those things?" Ikee nodded.
"If I went to a mixer... I don't know because I've only seen it in dramas and movies, but even if I said 'Nice to meet you' and said my name, I would already know who I am, so I wouldn't have a chance to introduce myself. I would like to introduce myself and have people get to know me from scratch," she said. She expressed her simple feelings not only as an athlete but also as a "human being."
