The judoka Paula Pareto, Olympic champion in Rio de Janeiro 2016, heads the list of Argentine athletes of 30 sports who will seek their place in the Tokyo Olympic Games in the coming months, rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic to take place between the 23 of July and August 8, 2021.
With Nadia Podoroska safe in the women’s single, the rest of the tennis qualifiers will be determined from the ATP and WTA rankings as of June 7, 2021.
Sports such as beach volleyball, rowing, badminton, skateboarding, taekwondo, karate, wrestling, golf, cycling (BMX freestyle, BMX racing, and Mountain Bike), rhythmic gymnastics, table tennis, shooting, triathlon, weightlifting, and surfing also require achievement points in tournaments and / or the Olympic ranking to participate.
Athletics Argentines, for example, will have to look for the minimum marks to go to Tokyo until the middle of next year. In December, in Rosario, athletes such as Germán Chiaraviglio, Belén Casetta, Jennifer Dahlgren and Carlos Layol returned to competition in the 100th National Senior Championship “Braian Toledo”.
Joaquín Arbe, Marcela Gómez and Eulalio Muñoz (marathon) and Sergio Alí Villamayor (in modern pentathlon) have already qualified for Tokyo 2020.
Swimming is another of the disciplines that requires minimum marks. Delfina Pignatiello (400, 800 and 1500 meters free), Santiago Grassi (100 butterfly) and Julia Sebastián (100 and 200 chest) have confirmed places, while the rest have until June 27 to achieve the times. The open water qualifier was held for May 29 and 30, 2021, in Fukuoka, Japan; while synchronized swimming was held in early March in Tokyo. The team sports with a place in the Olympic Games are the selected men’s soccer, basketball, rugby and handball, Las Leonas and Los Leones from field hockey, the boys and Las Panteras volleyball. The women’s handball team must play the Pre-Olympic in Spain, between March 19 and 31, although it is very difficult to win one of the two places that will be at stake due to the level of its rivals.
Boxing, fencing, rowing, archery and water polo will have their Pre-Olympics. Not all have a confirmed date yet. In water polo, the women’s will be held from January 17 to 24 in Trieste, Italy; and the men’s, from February 14 to 24, in Rotterdam, Holland.
In sprint canoeing, Agustín Vernice (K1 1000) is currently the only Argentine classified. The continental pre-Olympic will be held from April 9 to 11, 2021, in Curitiba, while the Pan American slalom, qualifying for Tokyo, will be held from April 30 to May 2, 2021, in Rio de Janeiro.
Other Argentines with a guaranteed place are José María Larocca (individual equestrian jumping), Larocca, Martín Dopazo, Matías Albarracín and Carlos Cremona (equestrian team); Martina Dominici (artistic gymnastics); Agustín Destribats (fight); Lucas Guzmán (taekwondo).
