Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aberdeen sprinter Zoey Clark admits Tokyo 2020 cancellation would be ‘absolutely devastating’

Great Britain's 4 x 400m relay final team (left to right) Zoey Clark, Eilidh Doyle, Emily Diamond and Laviai Nielsen celebrate winning silver during day ten of the 2017 IAAF World Championships at the London Stadium.
Great Britain's 4 x 400m relay final team (left to right) Zoey Clark, Eilidh Doyle, Emily Diamond and Laviai Nielsen celebrate winning silver during day ten of the 2017 IAAF World Championships at the London Stadium.

Aberdeen AAC’s Zoey Clark admits she’s far from confident that her dream of competing at the Olympic Games this summer will be fulfilled, but the 400m track specialist is pulling out all the stops to ensure she’ll be ready if the opportunity does come along.

Despite the devastating impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on all aspects of life across the globe, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said the body is still planning for the Tokyo Games to go ahead in July.

Clark, who has been a key member of the Great Britain 4x400m relay squad for the past three years, winning medals at world and European level, is not so sure.

She said: “We have been training for the Olympics for the past four years and it would be absolutely devastating for them not to take place – but we have to be sensible about health and public safety.

“The IOC appears adamant the games will go ahead, but it seems so unlikely.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty, so at the moment I can’t see it happening.

“The season hasn’t got started yet and we don’t know when it’s likely to start, so we don’t know when the trials would be or how we are meant to qualify. It would also be difficult for everyone to get into top shape in time.

“I’ll continue to train with the aim of getting to the Olympics but there’s always that doubt in the back of your mind that it won’t be happening and that can take the edge of your motivation.

“Also, I thrive on training in a group environment and I get a lot of strength from that, but now we all have to train on our own which is difficult.”

Despite these concerns, Clark is preparing as thoroughly as possible in case the situation improves.

Zoey Clark trains at Aberdeen Sports Village.

Even missing a planned trip to Florida and the subsequent closure of the track and gym facilities at Aberdeen Sports Village hasn’t distracted her.

She said: “I was looking forward to going to Florida at the end of this month for some good training and a few competitions to open the season, but that has obviously been cancelled.

“I don’t know how long ASV will be closed but it could be a while. Although the running track is outdoors, access to that has been closed as well because it’s part of the whole complex.

“But there are lots of other options.

“When the ASV track was closed for resurfacing in 2015 I trained on the grass at Kings College playing fields, so I’ll probably do that again.

“It’s a really good surface and it’ll probably be good for me being on a softer surface after having had a slight Achilles niggle earlier in the year.

“There’s also other tracks in the north-east I can use if I have to.

“There’s full 400m tracks at Fraserburgh and Peterhead and a 150m track at Inverurie.”