As announced by the Luxembourg Olympic and Sporting Committee (COSL) on Thursday, the grand duke visited the high performance training and recovery centre at the Coque sports facility to interact with Team Lëtzebuerg as they trained. 

Grand Duke Henri, who has been a member of the International Olympic Committee and on the COSL board of directors since 1998, took the opportunity to interact with athletes in training and discuss with them their programmes as they prepare for Tokyo, despite challenging circumstances related to the covid-19 health crisis.  

The games are scheduled to take place from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in the Japanese capital, having been delayed by a year due to the covid-19 pandemic. The head of the organising committee for the Tokyo Games recently hinted that the games will be closed off to fans from abroad. 

The royal was accompanied by vice prime minister and sports minister Dan Kersch (LSAP), COSL president André Hoffmann and president of the Coque’s administrative council, Marc Mathékowitsch.

Four athletes had qualified as of end-2020 for Luxembourg’s team at the Tokyo Olympics, including shotputter Bob Bertemes, swimmer Raphaël Stacchiotti, dressage rider Nicolas Wagner and veteran table tennis player Ni Xia Lian.