(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of a two-part series on Allegany native Martha Ruether, a vision-impaired swimmer who will compete in the 16th Paralympic Games later this summer in Tokyo.)

After she waited an extra year to participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympiad, Allegany’s Martha Ruether has noted the lingering effect of the pandemic in Japan.

The vision-impaired paralympic swimmer will compete in two events after the able-bodied Olympics end in early August.

She will swim the 50-meter freestyle on Aug. 29 and the 100-meter breaststroke Sept. 1.

The graduate assistant coach at Malone University (Canton, Ohio) will be competing in her second Olympiad after swimming in five events at Rio de Janeiro in 2016, the best finish placing her eighth in the world among paralympians in the 50 free.

However, seven weeks before she joins her U.S. teammates (24 women, 10 men) to leave for Japan, Martha has seen the myriad news reports that the Asian country, still fighting the pandemic, is hardly excited about an event that will bring thousands of foreign athletes into their largest city.

“I FEEL BAD that they’re not exactly jazzed about the games happening,” Ruether admitted. “I heard a statistic that 85% of the Japanese people don’t want the Games to happen and, in this day and age, I can understand their fear —  bringing teams from all around the world, vaccinated or not —  that (the virus) could spread.

“I’m just glad that I have the opportunity to go. If anything, the quarantine this past year has taught me to take things day-by-day because they could cancel (the Games) tomorrow, you don’t know.”

She added, “I saw the other day there’s a new strain of Covid, Delta, and that could derail everything. You just have to focus on, this is the plan, and that could change, and you’ve just got to be able to roll with the punches.

“That’s what the last year has taught us. Growing up as a visually impaired kid, I kind of had to roll with the punches, too. Being involved in Paralympics and having a disability has taught us all it’s quick adaptation.”

AND, IN some ways, the burden of their disability might actually make paralympic athletes better able to handle the current uncertainty than their able-bodied counterparts.

“They had mentioned before our (trials) meet that we’re so used to making changes on the fly, adapting and making things work,” Ruether said. “The world isn’t necessarily set up for (the disabled) all the time and we have to make the changes for things to be effective for us.

“We’re pretty used to having to switch stuff around and change stuff to work, so that’s all it is when you boil it down … there are so many aspects to our lives that are out of our control.”

Martha celebrates her 27th birthday July 3 and that makes her one of the older swimmers on the paralympic team and that necessitated a change in her strategy.

“We  have some up-and-comers, a changing-of-the-guard coming in, and I knew that they were probably going to top off at the trials and be 6-feet over me in some of my off-events,” Ruether explained. “I knew that focusing on the two that were my best shot and my highest ranking were going to be the most effective use of my energy.

“It’s not uncommon for older athletes to mellow out a little bit … not swim a million things, just do your main-focus events.”

She added,  “We have a girl on our national team and I’m 10 years older than her.  But it’s really great to be alongside them throughout that journey whether you’re competitors or just teammates where you can help mold them, teach them, shape them and help to kind of navigate this process. I’m known as a ‘Team Mom” and I’m OK with it.”

AND DESPITE Japan’s hesitancy, Ruether is excited to be heading to her second Olympiad.

“It’s definitely a cool thing, in terms of historically, that I went to the Games during the Covid pandemic,” she said. “I’m kind of used to rolling with the punches at this point and I’m just excited to be there and whatever happens, I’ll work with what they need me to do.

“Rio came with its own set of challenges, for sure. They were slow on construction … buildings weren’t built. One of my teammates has been to five Games and she said in Beijing they were worried about the air quality, Rio was undergoing the Zika virus (plus construction issues) … there’s always something, it’s never perfect. So (coronavirus) is just a new hurdle for these Games.”

(Chuck Pollock, an Olean Times Herald senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)