©Getty Images

With qualification for the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics safely achieved, Paige McPherson has approached the coronavirus-impacted preparation period with the most positive of mindsets.

The 30-year-old from Abilene in Texas, who competes in the under-67 kilograms category, has reconfigured her training programme in accordance with shift of the Games to next summer.

"My coach created a new training plan that is more suited for the longer time-frame at hand rather than what was once only three months' worth of work," she told World Taekwondo.

"Now, we have the time to truly go backwards - to fine-tune the basics and build on to our overall foundation in technique and fighting tactics.

"We have the time to rest and recover from the injuries inquired from the past several years of competition and the non-stop lifestyle of a professional taekwondo athlete.

"This is the first time where we have the opportunity to solely train without any interruptions, therefore, I am very excited in the next several months ahead."

McPherson, who now lives in Miami-Dade County in Florida, has been able to continue training with her room mate.

"We had been traveling together before the pandemic and now take the precautions of only seeing each other and no one else."

Paige McPherson, in blue, has won three Pan American Games medals, including silver at Lima 2019 ©Getty Images
Paige McPherson, in blue, has won three Pan American Games medals, including silver at Lima 2019 ©Getty Images

She added: "I want to remind people that we are resilient. 

"For our entire athletic careers we have faced times of hardship and uncertainty. 

"This time is no different as we have felt fear, anxiety, and the unknown before, yet still we were able to find a way amidst it."

McPherson made her name by winning an unexpected bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympics, having won Pan American Games silver the previous year.

But there was disappointment for her at the Rio 2016 Olympics, where she lost in her first-round match.

McPherson resumed her normal level of activity the following year as she won silver at the World Championships in Muju, and in 2018 she won the Pan American Championships and Pan American Open.

In 2019 she retained her Pan American Open title and then won silver at the Pan American Games in Lima, losing 9-8 to Brazil’s Milena Titoneli Guimaraes.

She rounded off the season by reaching the Moscow Grand Prix final, where she was beaten 7-4 by the Ivory Coast’s Rio 2016 bronze medallist Ruth Gbagbi.

In the COVID-impacted year of 2020, she has managed to add another gold to her collection, having beaten Petra Stolbova of the Czech Republic in the final of the German Open.