German runner slams Aussie mag's 'world's sexiest athlete' tag
Alica Schmidt has expressed her confusion after being named ‘World’s Sexiest Athlete’ by an Australian magazine, saying “sport clearly comes first”.
The 21-year-old runner from Germany has shot to superstardom in the last year, however not all the attention is being placed on her athletic abilities.
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Australian magazine ‘Busted Coverage’ recently named Schmidt as the ‘World’s Sexiest Athlete’.
However that tag doesn’t sit particularly well with her.
“I do not know why I got this title. Sport comes clearly first,” she said.
“There are thousands of girls on Instagram who look good but having many fans doesn’t make you interesting.
“That's just competitive sport for me.”
Alica Schmidt eyeing Olympics debut in 2021
The 400m runner had been hoping to represent Germany at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo before the Games were postponed by a year.
Schmidt was a star at junior level and won silver in the 4x400 relay at the Under-20 European Championships in 2017.
She also won bronze in the same event at the U23 European Championships in 2019.
With Germany relaxing virus restrictions, Schmidt has finally been able to get back into training as she eyes the 2021 Olympics.
“I can finally train on the track again. The last month I did everything alone or in pairs outside,” she wrote on social media.
“I am so happy to be able to train in the stadium again as usual even if nature was not that bad for the training session!”
She recently shared another photo to her 700,000 followers, writing: “My week off (because of my wisdom tooth) is almost over now.
“I hope I can start training again on Monday. It is so strange to have so much more time now for other stuff.”
Fresh doubt over Olympics even in 2021
Japan’s Tokyo 2020 boss has cast fresh doubt on the Olympic Games scheduled for next year.
Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori says the Olympic Games, already postponed to 2021, would be “scrapped” if they could not take place next year.
The International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government last month postponed the Games until July 2021 because of the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
With the epidemic's worldwide infection rate climbing and experts suggesting a vaccine is still a long way off, questions are being asked about whether the huge showpiece event might need to be delayed further.
“No. In that case, the Olympics will be scrapped,” Mori said in the interview with Japanese sports daily Nikkan Sports, when asked if the Games could be postponed again until 2022.
Japan Medical Association chief (JMA) Yoshitake Yokokura told a media briefing it would be a big call for the Games to go ahead without a vaccine.
“I am not saying that Japan should or shouldn't host the Olympics, but that it would be difficult to do so,” he said.
“Unless an effective vaccine is developed, I expect hosting the Olympics will be difficult.”
with AAP
