Fact Test: Hima Das has not yet qualified for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics

Last year’s Summer Olympics, which were to be held in Tokyo, were postponed until 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While uncertainty over the event still prevails, a social media report claims that India’s sprint sensation Hima Das qualified for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

The claim in Hindi translates into: ‘Golden girl Hima Das qualified for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Congratulations to the daughter who makes her country proud ”.

India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the allegation untrue. The Athletics Federation of India has confirmed that Hima Das did not qualify for the Tokyo Olympics until the evening of 16 January 2021.

The archived versions of similar posts can be seen here, here and here.

AFWA investigation

Hima Das of Assam became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal in a world championship. Her qualification for the Tokyo Olympics would have certainly made headlines. However, we could not find any reliable news report confirming the claim.

We also do not have her name in any of the reports wear the name of athletes who qualified for the postponed
Tokyo Olympics.

We then reached out to Hima’s personal manager, Rahul Trehan, who confirmed to us that the viral allegation was untrue. ‘The claim that Hima qualified for the Olympic Games in Tokyo is untrue. “She is training and there is still time for her to qualify for the Olympics,” said Trehan.

AFWA also spoke to Radhakrishnan Nair, head coach of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).

Nair said an athlete qualifies for the Olympics based on the World Athletics Qualifying Guidelines. Hima has not yet qualified for the Tokyo Olympics based on these guidelines. June 29 is the deadline for the Olympics, and she will likely qualify for the 200 meters and 4×100 meters relay. ”

AFWA also spoke to AFI President Adille Sumariwalla, who confirmed to us that no recent announcement had been made about the qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics.

‘All athletes, including Hima, must undergo various national and international competitions to qualify for the Olympics. All the qualifying events have been at stake over the past few months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, we had no announcement of Olympic qualifiers. We plan to resume the competitions in February. “Four of them have already been scheduled,” said Sumariwalla.

Therefore, it is clear that the claim that Hima Das qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 is false. Until the time this copy was submitted, she did not qualify for the event.

Tokyo Olympics

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics have been postponed by a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is now expected to be held between July 23 and August 8 this year in the capital of Japan.

John Coates, vice-president of the International Olympic Committee, said earlier that the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 will continue with or without the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to recent reports from Reuters and Bloomberg, the fear of the games is still in Japan due to the revival of Covid-19 infections in the country. Japan has now declared a virus emergency for large metropolitan areas in the country.