Anna Kessel

A note from our Women’s Sports Editor

What happens to sportswomen when the whole world gets put on pause for a global pandemic? For the Olympians and Paralympians who have been following strictly regimented training schedules for the last four years, sacrificing key moments in their personal lives, the minutiae of their daily routine dictated to by one competition, a postponement of this magnitude is difficult to comprehend.

With the Games due to begin this weekend, at TWS we wanted to celebrate the sportswomen who would have been thrilling us with their performances this summer.

Of course, for some the postponement is a blessing in disguise. In our cover story, 12-year-old skateboarder Sky Brown speaks exclusively to Pippa Field about recovering from a life-threatening accident just six weeks ago. In a moving interview that describes her painful recovery, the Briton – one of The Telegraph’s Tokyo Eight – shares her message of empowerment for young girls around the world: how to be brave when things go wrong.

Meanwhile, our world champion columnist Dina Asher-smith meets British teen sprint sensation Amber Anning, for whom an extra year means a chance of making the Olympic team to run an individual 400metres. And Chief Sports Writer Oliver Brown tells the inspirational story of Chaunte Lowe’s recovery from breast cancer as she sets her sights on an Olympic high jump medal.

For others, such as parataekwondo’s Amy Truesdale, the 12-month delay is nothing out of the ordinary for an athlete who has been waiting 11 years for her sport to join the Paralympics. The gold-medal favourite spoke to Molly Mcelwee.

And we share the extraordinary story of Bracha “Beatie” Deutsch, the Orthodox Jewish marathon runner and mother of five, who took up the sport to raise money for a cause close to her heart and became an Israeli national record holder. To be observant to her faith she runs in modest clothing, and continues to observe the Sabbath. But with the Tokyo women’s marathon now scheduled to start on a Saturday, she is pleading with the International Olympic Committee to adapt its plans so she can be included.

Join us in recognising these phenomenal women, ahead of the countdown to Tokyo next year.