Tokyo Olympics: Why swimmers Cate and Bronte Campbell say athletes want the Games to go ahead
Swimming’s Campbell sisters are backing the IOC’s decision to wait before making a decision on whether the Tokyo Olympics should proceed, saying it’s too big a decision to rush into.
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Cate Campbell didn’t even want to go to the Tokyo Olympics.
Not after Rio.
Heartbroken, despite winning a second Olympic gold medal, she’d had enough and needed a break from swimming.
Tormented by the frailty of a sport she had become a global star in, she took a year off to figure out what to do next.
When she found the answer, it wasn’t the one she expected but it’s what drives her to this day.
“After Rio, I wasn’t sure that I could put myself through another Olympics because it was such a traumatic experience and quite emotionally draining,” she told The Daily Telegraph.
“I had to ask myself if I was willing to put in, not only the four years of hard work that’s required, but also to put my nerves through that stress again.
“After I took that year off I realised I wasn’t done and I wanted to come back and train for the Olympics again.”
Cate’s sister Bronte began thinking about Tokyo during the closing ceremony at Rio as she watched the official handover from Brazil to Japan.
Two years younger than Cate and already a world champion, she’d just won her first gold medal and had developed a taste for more.
Her only problem was she had a sore shoulder that she hoped would go away with time but it never did.
In 2018, she decided to go under the surgeon’s knife to try and get it fixed but was told it’ll never be 100 per cent again so she took a break to evaluate whether the pain was worth it.
She decided it was, if only for the chance to swim in Tokyo.
“The Olympics is the whole reason I go to training every day,” she said.
“And I go to training twice a day, every day, and so I think about Tokyo a lot.”
That’s the Olympic dream, not only for the Campbell sisters but also the thousands of other athletes from all around the world who have made similar sacrifices.
Now that dream’s in danger of being destroyed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the pressure being put on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to postpone or cancel the Tokyo Games.
The IOC is resisting, for now, saying they owe it to the athletes to do everything in their power to try to allow the Games to proceed as scheduled in July. Athletes wholeheartedly agree.
“I think they’re smart to wait because it’s still four months away and things are still changing on a daily basis so no-one knows how things are going to look then,” Cate said.
“For the athletes, self isolation is something we kind of do all the time anyway so we‘ll just keep on training, but there’s a lot more people who will be affected than just athletes.
“If you can save the Olympics and still put on a big sporting event then you should try because I think it will hurt more people if it doesn’t go ahead.”
No-one needs to remind elite athletes about the importance of health. That’s the business they’re in so if the situation deteriorates they know the Games can’t go ahead so they’ll just re-set and prepare again.
What concerns them more are core issues like fairness, although it’s a flawed notion because funding, injuries and even luck often play as big a part in deciding medals than skill and athleticism.
Even so, there’s no doubt the Tokyo Olympics have already been compromised because some athletes aren’t able to even train at the moment because their countries have been hit so hard by the deadly virus.
“That’s a legitimate concern for me and holds a lot of weight because you want to turn up on the global stage and everyone is at their best and everyone's competing,” Bronte said.
“Faster, higher, stronger - that’s what the Olympics is all about, but that’s also only one part of the decision to go ahead or not.
“It doesn’t mean I want the Olympics to be postponed or cancelled but it is another little spinning plate that someone has to hold up, so I’m glad it’s not me who has to make that decision.”
Originally published as Tokyo Olympics: Why swimmers Cate and Bronte Campbell say athletes want the Games to go ahead
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