Tokyo Olympics: Australian softball team arrives in Japan

The Tokyo Olympics have received a much-needed boost with the historic arrival of Australia’s first team.

Australia’s softball team became the first athletes to land in Japan for the Olympics on Tuesday, in a major milestone for the pandemic-postponed Games which continue to face controversy.

The Aussie Spirit squad touched down in Narita airport outside Tokyo along with their support staff, and were immediately ushered off for coronavirus testing.

The delegation are all vaccinated but still faced testing before departure and on arrival in Japan.

They will also be subject to stringent restrictions during their stay.

The arrival will be a boost for organisers who are battling persistent public opposition and doubt about whether the Games can, or should go ahead.

Much of Japan, including Tokyo, is under a virus state of emergency, and polls largely show a majority of Japanese want the Games further delayed or cancelled altogether.

But organisers say detailed virus rule books will keep participants and the public safe and note that around 80 per cent of those in the Olympic Village will be vaccinated.

Australian softball players wave as they pose for a group picture prior to their departure for the Tokyo Olympics, at Sydney International Airport. Picture: SAEED KHAN / AFP.

Australia’s softball team said they were prepared for the rules and happy to be getting back to play after pandemic disruption. For some, Tokyo 2020 could be their last shot at Olympic glory, with softball not featuring at Paris 2024.

“We know it’s going to be a bit of a long trip over, we know we’re going to go through lots and lots of Covid testing,” said player Jade Wall, as the face mask-wearing squad prepared to depart Sydney.

“But look, we’re all prepared for it, we want to do everything that we can to make sure that we’re safe when we get there and we’re safe while we’re in Japan as well.”

The team will head from the airport straight to their training base in Ota City, around 100 kilometres (about 60 miles) north of Tokyo.

The rules will be strict.

No family members are allowed, with just 10 staff members travelling with the squad.

Australian softball players Shannon Keevers (L) and Ellen Roberts wave while on a video chat.

And the entire delegation will be kept to a single hotel floor for sleeping, eating and working out at the gym.

“The only reason why (they) would be leaving the hotel is to go to the ballpark and back. They will be having less daily contact with the public than they would in Australia,” Softball Australia CEO David Pryles said.

But the trip is still a “huge” moment for the team, which had its Olympic preparations interrupted by the pandemic and hasn’t played together since February 2020, he told AFP.

The squad will be playing local teams and winnowing down athletes to a 15-woman side before moving into the Olympic Village on July 17.

Their first fixture — against the hosts — will kick off Olympic competition on July 21, two days before the opening ceremony

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Russell Gould

Throughout their 15 month wait to play an international match, and a 13-year fight to get back to the Olympics, Australia’s softballers have worked out adaptable athletes are most likely to succeed.

With that in mind the first Australian team to leave for the Tokyo Olympics flew from Sydney on Monday ready to do the hard yards living and training out of a hotel before getting to the chance to live out their dream.

The Aussie Spirit squad will be based in an Ota City hotel before entering the Olympic village, only allowed to leave the hotel for training and games during coming weeks.

Even stricter protocols are likely when they get to the Olympic village. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is yet to finalise guidelines for its biosecurity bubble.

Every player and team official had to be return a negative Covid test last Friday just to be able to fly out.

Airborne! 🇦🇺✈️🇯🇵

The @travelodgehotel Aussie Spirit are well on their way to Japan repping the country as one of the first teams in the world to set up camp in Ota City, taking every precaution possible in their preparations

🗞| https://t.co/XuhIoPm23Vpic.twitter.com/5UbVkbLtOB

— Softball Australia (@SoftballOz) May 31, 2021

Australia's Softball squad will be the first international team to arrive ahead of the Olympic Games.
They will spend the next two and a half months in a biosecurity bubble, and compete in stadiums without any fans. @DamoNews#9Newspic.twitter.com/JIJMoIT4wi

— 9News Australia (@9NewsAUS) May 31, 2021

Softball is back in the Olympics for the first time since 2008 and veteran Jade Wall said living in lockdown in coronavirus-ravaged Japan until the Games start in July was worth it.

“We’ve done lots of training here in Australia to prepare for some of those difficulties we may face in Japan,” Wall said at Sydney Airport on Monday before departing.

“We know it’s going to be a long trek over there, we know we’ve got to go through lots and lots of Covid testing but we’re all prepared for it.

“We will do everything we can to make sure we’re safe when we get there and stay safe while we’re in Japan.”

Australia won Olympic medals at four straight Games from 1996-2008, but none were gold.

Softball was excluded from the 2012 and 2016 Games and is getting a one-off chance in Tokyo before again missing the cut for the Paris Olympics in 2024.

It makes this opportunity that much more important, but as Wall revealed, knowing it was coming, and what would be required to get there amid a worldwide pandemic has made the quest for gold more realistic.

“We haven’t been there for 13 years so there’s a lot of people behind me who have waited a long time to get that opportunity.” Wall said.

“We had a lot of mental battles over the last year.

“The biggest thing about this team is we’ve become very adaptable.

“And we know, doing the gold-medal ready program through the AIS, that adaptable athletes and teams are the ones who succeed at Olympics.

“We’re so strong as a unit. I know any difficulties we’re going to face, we’ll face together.”