Tokyo 2020 - Games under lockdown

Based on his posts on social media, SA cycling team manager Elton Davids, originally from Athlone, has not had much chance to explore the city since arriving at the Olympic Village in Tokyo ahead of the start of this year’s Games later this month.

The views from his room provide his followers a glimpse of a city that will play host to an Olympics under a cloud of Covid-19. For now, Davids and the rest of the SA squad are limited to their quarters due to the required Covid-19 protocols.

An Olympics like no other, there’ll be no sight-seeing tours as this year’s spectacle will see officials and athletes restricted to the Olympic Village and the competition venues.

That said, the former Belgravia High and Athlone North Primary School pupil is thrilled to be in Japan.

A former chairman of the Cape Town sports council, Davids has had a long-standing involvement with cycling dating back to the early 90s when he acquired his first bike.

Over the years he has completed multiple Cape Cycle Tours and other major races and competed on the European circuit.

Besides his role as manager, Davids is also the BMX coach and has a UCI Level 2 coaching licence and has been to the BMX World Championship and served on the national executive of BMX. Davids said he’s confident that Team SA has the potential to come away with Olympic medals

“My role as code manager is to oversee all the logistics, admin, team support for all the riders and management and massage all the male riders,'' he said.