‘It’s just been so beautiful out here’: Olympian Emily Seebohm shares experience at Howard Springs

Olympian Emily Seebohm, who at Howard Springs after returning from Tokyo, has shared how she and her fellow athletes are handling quarantine in the NT.

• Olympians share Howard Springs snaps to hundreds of thousands of followers

RELAXING, reflecting and relishing in the Top End sun is how Olympians at Howard Springs are spending their 14 days’ quarantine, according to one medallist who spoke to the NT News.

Swimming sensation Emily Seebohm was part of the first cohort of athletes and support staff to touch down in Darwin last week after competing at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Seebohm, who won a bronze medal in Tokyo for the Women’s 200m Backstroke and is a multi-Olympic medallist, said the athletes were given a heartwarming welcome on arrival at Howard Springs. “The staff had written chalk signs all over the ground, they decorated everything with Australian flags and streamers in green and gold,” she said.

“It was so beautiful and it was just a really nice touch to get back home on Australian soil and to have that kind of welcome when we couldn’t really see any of our family or our friends.”

Now almost a week into mandatory quarantine, Seebohm said she and her fellow athletes were taking the time to wind down, reflect on Tokyo and enjoy the Top End’s warm weather and ­scenic sunsets.

“It’s nice because we get a chance to just reflect and refresh on what’s just happened and kind of just relax a little bit before going back to the mayhem of our lives,” Seebohm said.

“Having the opportunity to be able to really relax and not really have people around you all the time is quite nice, and being here gives us the opportunity of talking to each other and sitting on our balconies and having dinner together, so it is a great experience to be here and we’re very lucky that we could come home at all.”

Other athletes in quarantine include swimmers ­Ariarne Titmus, Bronte Campbell, Zac Stubblety-Cook, Brianna Throssell and Chelsea Hodges, Rugby Sevens star Charlotte Caslick, BMX gold medallist Logan Martin and sprinter Rohan Browning.

Posts on social media show many athletes lounging in the sun, working out on their balconies and supporting their fellow Olympians in Tokyo.

“It’s been really nice to just relax and catch up on sleep, catch up on all the TV shows catching up with happening in Australia and just lie around the sun,” Seebohm said.

“It’s just been so beautiful out here.”

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Seebohm said she was fond of the Territory, visiting in April for a clinic during which she inspired the next generation of swimmers at Parap Pool. “I’ve been here a couple of times and absolutely love it,” she said.

Seebohm said the athletes would be overjoyed if Darwin was able to host a celebration when their quarantine finished, with Chief Minister Michael Gunner determined to hold a ticker-tape parade.

“We’re very grateful and we would absolutely love that,” she said.

“We’re so thankful that we can be here.”

On Monday afternoon, 120 more Olympians and staff will land in Darwin to undergo 14 days mandatory quarantine in Howard Springs.

This is the last cohort of Olympic athletes to be quarantining in Darwin.