The coronavirus pandemic is still wreaking havoc on certain parts of the world, including the nation of Australia. The state of Queensland is now under at least a 3-day lockdown effective Tuesday, June 29th. The restrictions, which include a stay-at-home order aside from essential reasons only, will be reviewed again on July 2nd.
Areas in the lockdown perimeter include Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay, Gold Coast, Somerset and Townsville City, the latter of which was the location of several swimmers’ most recent Tokyo preparations. Among them was Kyle Chalmers, who is reportedly now being kept separate from the main Swimming Australia Olympic team now that all are arriving in Cairns, also in Queensland.
Additionally, ABC News is reporting that some of Australia’s Olympic swimmers will be immediately tested for coronavirus after visiting hotspots in Queensland now in lockdown.
Freestyle ace and 2016 Olympic champion Mack Horton appears to be among those in this situation, as is 100m freestyle reigning Olympic king Kyle Chalmers.
For Horton, this is the man’s second mad-dash evacuation to avoid a coronavirus-related lockdown. We reported late last month how he fled Melbourne in order to ensure he’d be able to race at the nation’s Olympic Trials in South Australia.
“Members of the Townsville group attended Magnetic Island … but are considered low-risk contacts and did not attend any high-risk locations during their visit,” a Swimming Australia spokesperson said.
“We will follow government health advice and be tested immediately as per the advice for low-risk contacts.” (ABC News)
The Australian Olympic Committee began its vaccine rollout on May 10.
Did Horton get offered a spot in the 800? Nobody has reported anythink surely they would have offered it to him
No they don’t.
I guess it comes down to how you defined the developed world and whose data you trust. I pretty confidently trust Australia’s data, and they’re confidently in the developed world.
Russia has a lower reported vaccination rate. New Zealand has a lower vaccination rate. Taiwan has a lower vaccination rate.
So it’s near the worst, but not the worst.
If Kyle is a “King” couldn’t he just overrule the mandate?
King Kyle is just king of the 100 free.
I’m confused I thought the Aussie swimmers have already been vaccinated .. so why the need for a mad dash
You’re not exempt from a lockdown just because you’re vaccinated. He doesn’t want to get stuck away from the Olympic training.
That when common sense should apply in terms of exemptions .. just saying the whole point of getting everyone to vaccinate is to have less stress handling Covid infections so this could have been a good way to promote the advantages of getting vaccinated (if it does work) rather than continuing to spread fear and anxiety don’t you think ?
Yeah, but as we saw with the Ugandan athletes, and data from around the world (UK, Israel etc) vaccinations do not completely prevent infection. Sad reality.
There are also crocodiles stalking the beaches. The little freshwater ones in the river are cute but still they can nip.
Today at Masters practice:
In honor of the “Recall Governor Newsom” vote in November, we had a “Recall Your Favorite High School Workout set” as the theme. Everyone pitched in with their favorite and it was a lot of fun.
Currently there is ONE Covid person in ICU in the country. If they die & if she / he / they have a sad bereaved dog , I can take him/ her / them.
he will be safe in china
There have been several very important recent developments on the AUS swimming issues first raised by M Groves and now being added by six other elite swimmers, on which you need to continue to report. Several specific allegations have been printed by “The Australian” publication in a June 26 article, “Abused Swimmers Engage Top Lawyer”. Among others, these include allegations about “Hell Weeks” with swimmers urinating blood, 12-year-olds being put on Keto Diets, bulimia issues, weighing of athletes and weight-shaming, other strange punishments (for example, 4000m Fly set as punishment). There has also been the announcement of formation of an independent commission, that will be comprised solely of females, to examine the issues in AUS. But it appears that all… Read more »
The Olympics is in 3 weeks. It usually takes more than 3 weeks to put together an independent commission and investigate, and this is literally the busiest period for SA that comes once every 4 years.
Some of the allegations sound horrendous and they need to be investigated, but suggesting that the issues have been “swept aside” and are being ignored is just false.