Prior to the start of the pandemic, Velvere was in the Olympic qualifying position given the coveted roadmap if qualifying at that time. After the resumption of the competition, the Latvian gradually slipped lower and lower in the selection rank, but in two starts he managed to get good enough results to stay above the line also at the end of the qualification. The Latvian runner covered a very long way to the Olympic Games. At the age of 31, however, it fulfilled a long-cherished dream. At the opening ceremony on July 23, she was the only Latvian athlete, and she made her debut in such an important competition tonight.
48 athletes (46 started) entered the 800-meter discipline of the Olympic Games, starting with six races in the preliminaries. Four athletes, who ran faster than two minutes this season, competed in four preliminary races, in one there were as many as five, and in another – three. Līga Velvere also took part in the first preliminary race, and a Latvian (2: 01.95) was ranked only in the sixth position before the start. To qualify for the semi-finals, you had to be in the top three (Q) or show at least the sixth best result among other athletes from all six races (q). To move on, our athlete had to take the best race of his life and / or hope that the competitors would not run very fast in the first round of the competition.
800m in the presentation of runners Līga Velvere was not smiling tonight, was concerned about the well-defined right leg, which was injured even before the Olympics. At the beginning of the race, the Latvian turned out to be slower than the others, but after about 200 meters she withdrew and was left without a result. Vorkva Getačeva (Ethiopia), the main favorite of the first pre-race, did not go to the start, the French representative Ranella Lamote (2: 01.92) won, the Ugandan Vinnija Nanjondo (2: 02.02) and the Swiss Lora Hofmane (2: 02.05) also entered the semi-finals.
The best results in the preliminaries were achieved by Jamaican Natoja Goula (1: 59.83) and British runner Jemma Reaky (1: 59.97). The first pre-race was the slowest, so in the end the semi-final needed at least 2: 02.05, which the Latvian could have done, unless the plans were disrupted by injury.
In early July, giving an interview Sportacentrs.com portal, the athlete revealed that Tokyo wants to run less than two minutes.
Eight athletes represent Latvia at these Olympic Games, including our only runner Līga Velvere.
