At the height of the pandemic last year, the reigning world champion in the 100-meter hurdles began to lose faith that the postponed Tokyo Olympics would ever take place.
Nia Ali struggled to envision the world returning to normal in time to allow tens of thousands of athletes to safely convene this summer.
COVID numbers were soaring across the globe. The race to develop a vaccine had just begun. Some of America’s most prominent Olympians couldn’t access their usual training centers, so they ran sprints on neighborhood streets, sparred in empty department stores or swam laps in backyard pools.