TOKYO — When athletes become Olympians, their lives and responsibilities change, whether they like it or not. Their singular focus broadens. More is expected of them. They become representatives of one nation and guests of another.
Michael Andrew, the unvaccinated, 22-year-old American swimmer who refused to wear a mask while talking to journalists in the mixed zone Friday morning at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, is a first-time Olympian who by now should have figured out that things are different in Tokyo than they were for him back home.
Instead, somewhere on his journey from self-centered athlete to Michael America, Andrew lost his way.