The extraordinary journey to Tokyo 2020 The distance of a marathon is 26.2 miles. As we go through US marathon runner Abdihakim “Abdi” Abdirahman’s road to Tokyo, we tick off the milestones and myriad challenges for competitors and organizers to reach this year’s Games. The Tokyo Olympics are finally happening and Abdihakim “Abdi” Abdirahman is ready -- despite new rules, no fans, and many protests against hosting the Games during a pandemic. He’s sympathetic to concerns about keeping residents, athletes and their support staff safe during the massive 16-day event. He also really wants to compete in the marathon -- the race he’s been training for, for over a year. Qualifying for the Games was hard, and staying healthy and in shape during a pandemic was arguably even harder.