Coronavirus: Olympic Games delay may work in favour of Central Coast Kayaker Riley Fitzsimmons
The Olympic Games delay has a silver — hopefully golden — lining for one of the last athletes named on the Australian Olympic team for the Tokyo.
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He’s one of the newest members of the Australian Olympic team for the Tokyo Olympics and Riley Fitzsimmons believes the Games delay could help, not hinder his medal chances.
The Central Coast kayaker is taking a positive approach to the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics and actually believes it will playing into the hands of the Australian team.
Fitzsimmons, Jordan Wood, Murray Stewart, and Lachie Tame were all named onto the Australian Olympic team late last week – the first confirmed after IOC officials announcing the 2020 Games would be delayed until 2021 due to the coronavirus.
The four are expected to be racing the K4 together in Tokyo from July 23 to August 8 in 2021.
Incredibly Fitzsimmons, who is self isolating on the Gold Coast with girlfriend and Ironwoman surf champion Georgia Miller, said the four paddlers have only raced seriously in a K4 together on two previous occasions.
“Preparing for the Olympics in July this year we sort of had that belief that we were a medal chance despite not being together much,” said the Avoca club kayaker.
“So in a way it’s played into our hands quite nicely because it will be nice to have that extra time together.
“We were so focused on qualifying six guys in the last three years that we never really got the opportunity to explore the K4 as a team.”
“It’s given us all this time to try new things and get some sort of benchmarks going in.
“I think all athletes just have to look at it, I’ve got to be, you know, I’ve got a whole year to be better.”
Tokyo will be Fitzsimmons’ second Olympics with Tame and Murray chosen to compete at their third and Wood at his second.
Tom Green and Jean van der Westhuyzen are the canoe sprint debutants.
Other members of the team are Manly’s Jo Brigden-Jones, Alyssa Bull, Catherine McCarthur, Shannon Reynolds, Jaime Roberts and Alyce Wood (nee Burnett) who will contest the K4 500m, K2 500m, K1 500m and K1 200m.
Josephine Bulmer and Bernadette Wallace will represent Australia in women’s canoe (C2 500m), with women’s sprint canoeing on the Olympic programme for the first time.
The Australian Olympic Committee has confirmed selected athletes shall remain members of the Australian Olympic Team to Tokyo, and athletes who have completed the entire qualification process, under the existing National Federation nomination criteria and international qualification systems, shall be nominated and selected in line with the existing policy.
Where athletes have not completed the entire qualification process, the next steps will depend on actions taken by International Federations and the IOC regarding international qualification systems.