For Sakura Kokumai, karate’s addition to the Olympic program for Tokyo has been life-changing. A particularly memorable stretch occurred over six days in March 2020.
Kokumai, a 28-year-old who lives in Southern California, became the first American to qualify for Olympic karate on March 18 of last year.
Six days later, the Tokyo Games were moved to 2021. Turns out, Kokumai was the last American to qualify for Tokyo in any sport before the postponement announcement.
“It was really challenging … but I got creative!” Kokumai said as part of the NBC Olympics Reddit AMA series.