Tests clear seven Australian cyclists, coaches and officials of coronavirus as they continue training at home
It’s good news for Australia’s cycling team after travelling to Berlin for the track world championships, with multiple coronavirus tests returning negative results. It comes as the staffer who did contract the illness is released from hospital.
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Seven Australian cycling athletes, coaches and officials have all returned negative tests to the coronavirus as the staff member who did contract it continues his recovery at home.
Cycling Australia high performance director Simon Jones said the staff member was feeling better, which was a big relief to the team, as was confirmation that those in closest contact with him during the Berlin track world championships last month were given the all-clear.
“Our staff member is out of hospital and making improvements,” Jones said.
“It was a worrying couple of days when he went into hospital and now he’s feeling better which is great news.
“We were very cautious (by testing as many others as possible) just to make sure and everyone returned a negative test.”
Jones and his coaching staff are in contact with their athletes daily after the Australian Olympic Committee’s decision not to send a team to the Tokyo Games this year.
Like most of the world they are now preparing for the Games to be postponed until 2021 and are now just awaiting confirmation by the IOC in coming weeks.
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Riders have been sent home from the SuperDrome and are training on their own.
“We’d planned for ‘what if’ scenarios last week and one was what we would do if the Olympic Games were cancelled or postponed, but in many respects it’s a good thing now because we can absorb the news and get on with tangible things,” Jones said.
“Stopping training is not a good thing for your wellbeing generally, you’re on a mission and then suddenly you stop, so we want people to keep training if it’s good for them.
“But we have cut the phases into two.
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“We have two to three weeks of uncertainty and then we’ll find out a bit more with the IOC (when it makes a final decision on the Games), so we will keep training at a reduced level and we’ll help our athletes to become as self-sufficient as possible in their home environment.
“We will use the time for planning really, on and off the bike, in education and training, it brings those sort of planning conversations a bit further forward.
“But life goes on, there is more racing than the Olympic Games, I know we will get through this at some point, it’s just nobody knows when.
“We have to go through options and not commit to something because a decision made in the short term might not be the best in the long run.”
reece.homfray@news.com.au
Originally published as Tests clear seven Australian cyclists, coaches and officials of coronavirus as they continue training at home