Paralympic swimming champion Alice Tai will not compete at the Tokyo Games because of an elbow injury.
Tai, 22, was one of Britain’s best medal prospects having won seven golds at the 2019 World Para-swimming Championships in London.
“Competing at Tokyo 2020 has been my main goal for the last five years, so it’s devastating that I’ll be missing the Games later this year,” Tai said. “The decision to withdraw was extremely difficult to accept but my health is ultimately more important.”
Tai, part of Britain’s gold medal-winning women’s 4x100m medley team at the Rio Paralympics, has battled with the injury during lockdown and attempted to make a comeback at the British Para-swimming International meet in April.
British Para-swimming performance director Chris Furber said: “It’s been a cruel decision for Alice to face, however I have every confidence she has the determination to bounce back from this setback and will go on to achieve further success at major meets over the next few years on the journey to Paris 2024.”
The Tokyo Paralympics are scheduled to run from 24 August to 5 September.
Analysis
By BBC Sport’s Elizabeth Hudson
Alice Tai was the star of the British team at the 2019 World Para-swimming Championships in London and looked set for more glory in Tokyo.
But this injury, which comes at a very unfortunate time, is combined with a reclassification from the S8 to the S9 category earlier this year which meant she was competing against less-impaired rivals.
Not only will Tai be missed in the individual events where she would have been a medal contender, her absence will be felt in the GB freestyle and medley relay teams. But she is a determined character and will be aiming to return stronger.
