Tokyo Olympics: kayaker Jo Brigden-Jones battling on at home
Jo Brigden-Jones knows there’s only one thing certain in these uncertain sporting times – she has more early mornings ahead than she had planned for.
Manly
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Jo Brigden-Jones was packed up, her last shift as a paramedic done, farewells to mates completed and her room on Sydney’s northern beaches on the internet and up for rent.
Then the call came through. Stay put.
Like all other athletes training for the Tokyo Olympics, Brigden-Jones’s life is now in a holding pattern.
A move from Manly to the Australian kayaking base on the Gold Coast followed by a series of international regattas and camps was stopped by officials as the coronavirus situation escalated.
Now Brigden-Jones, 31, will train alone as much as she can with stricter measures being enforced daily to control the spread of the deadly bug.
Expected to have been named on the Australian kayaking team for the Tokyo Games next week, Brigden-Jones is now unsure whether that team will even be unveiled as sports work frantically towards an Olympics in 2021 not 2020.
“Right now I’m just readjusting and getting used to the idea that I’ve got a lot more early mornings to get through than before,” she said.
The veteran kayaker said she is determined to continue her quest to compete at another Olympics, no matter when it is held.
Brigden-Jones, whose said her job as a paramedic saw her transport one of the first couple of coronavirus cases in Australia, last competed in the Olympic arena eight years ago and her comeback to be in consideration for Tokyo was a testament to her Olympic size determination.
“As an athlete I have always been so meticulous so this is all so crazy to me,” Brigden-Jones said.
“I’ve been trying to train for things but literally things have been changing hour by hour so it’s a little tricky for everyone.
“The Olympics could now be 17 months away so I guess we just have to readjust that plan.
“But yes, I still aim on getting there.
“Murray Stewart (fellow paddler) and I had been joking, a lot, that we were going to have a combined retirement party at the end of 2020.
“I guess we have to push those plans back indefinitely because I don’t want to retire before having another opportunity to compete at the Olympics.”
Brigden-Jones — who along with Stewart was named in a 14-strong Olympic squad on Friday — said it is likely she will now return to work and train alone as she waits to discover what is ahead for her, her sport and the Tokyo Olympics.
“We need to be respectful of restrictions that are put in place because they stop the spread of the virus because it is highly contagious and we don’t want to end up like the Italians with the numbers that they have,” she said.