Old workers camp at Howard Springs to host Ariarne Titmus and swim team for 14-day quarantine

Quarantine looms for Aussie athletes, as Ariarne Titmus heads for Howard Springs and rowers get ready for 14-day stay in Sydney hotels

THE new queen of the pool, dual gold medallist Ariarne Titmus, will quarantine in the old workers camp at Howard Springs near Darwin alongside her swimming team-mates when our Olympians return to Australia next week.

Titmus will join about 100 other Australian swimmers and officials arriving into Darwin on August 3 on board a special Qantas charter flight bring the Australian delegation home.

Australian Olympic Committee chief executive Matt Carroll said work was underway to make all the athletes feel welcome when they returned home, as no families were able to go to the airport to greet them.

He said the AOC had not been able to lock down final return schedules for all athletes because several of the team sports members were continuing to progress towards the medal rounds – something he described as a “good problem to have’’

“We have 853 people in our team and they need to leave (Japan) within 48 hours of the completion of their competition,’’ Mr Carroll said.

He said the AOC had worked with the Australian Government to ensure the athletes and officials were considered additional to the cap set by the Government for returning Australians, ensuring no-one lost their place in the queue.

Mr Carroll said the AOC had organised three charters – one taking approximately 103 members of the swimming team into Darwin, a second charter arriving into Darwin on August 9 with about 95 team sports members, and a final charter arriving into Brisbane on August 10 with more than 185 people on board.

The rest of the athletes and officials will come back to Australia on commercial flights and go into hotel quarantine in various states. The men’s and women’s hockey teams will fly into Western Australia and quarantine in Perth, as most live there. Our victorious rowing teams will be heading into Sydney on commercial flights.

A swabbing team conducting Covid tests at the quarantine facility at Howard Springs. Picture GLENN CAMPBELL

Mr Carroll said 189 members of the Australian team were leaving to return to home bases overseas, mainly in the US, UK and Europe. Unlike those returning to Australia, they will not have to quarantine, as their final destinations do not required vaccinated people to quarantine on arrival.

“It’s a good message – be vaccinated,’’ he said.

Some members of the shooting and skateboard teams had already left Japan and begun their hotel quarantine back in Australia. All team members will be back in Australia by August 14.

The welcome home for the athletes will be so unusual the AOC is working to brighten up their arrival, considering putting welcome banners at airport, and working with their corporate sponsors to deliver goodie bags to them in quarantine. Care parcels are allowed in some states, although not in Victoria.

Online quizzes, music and study opportunities will also be offered to help the athletes through their quarantine period.