Not budging: No gold quarantine passes for SA Olympians

SA government sticks to its guns on making 16 Olympians spend another fortnight in isolation after Sydney quarantine.

SA Premier Steven Marshall, left, rowing gold medallist Alexander Hill, top right and Olympic BMX rider Anthony Dean, who hasn’t seen his fiancee since June. Pictures: News Corp/Getty Images/News Corp

The South Australian Government is refusing to budge on what it admits is a “tough” decision to force 16 Olympians to spend another two weeks in isolation despite having completed a fortnight’s quarantine in Sydney prior to returning to SA.

Olympians have broken ranks to question the decision as the Australian Olympic Committee warned it could do damage to their mental health and made no sense given they have passed repeated Covid tests both in Tokyo and Sydney.

It is understood gold medal-winning rower Alexander Hill, whose family is from Loxton in the state’s Riverland, is among those affected.

Adelaide-based BMX rider Anthony Dean is also among the 16 athletes and told The Australian he had not seen his fiancee since June.

Dean is still in Sydney but due to return to SA on Sunday — his fiancee’s birthday — but will instead be holed up inside for another fortnight from that date.

“I understand the need to do the right thing but we have had repeated tests and been through all this already in Sydney,” he said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

SA Premier Steven Marshall admitted the decision would be an imposition on athletes but said that the state had been clear about the requirements weeks ago when SA Chief Medical Officer Nicola Spurrier wrote to the AOC explaining SA’s quarantine rules.

He reminded the AOC that SA’s seven-day lockdown last month had been caused when an Argentinian man who had done a fortnight’s quarantine in Sydney became ill there and seeded the Modbury Delta cluster on his arrival in SA.

That lockdown knocked $200 million from the state’s economy.

The AOC wrote back to Professor Spurrier questioning the ruling but she replied making it clear that there would be no special cases made for the Olympians given everyone else arriving in SA from Sydney was required to quarantine.

“It is a tough situation, there is no doubt about that,” Premier Marshall said.

“We are mindful of the mental health issues. But we can’t have one set of rules for one group of people and a completely different set for others.”

Mr Marshall also said that the athletes would be free to apply to perform the quarantine at home, rather than in a hotel.

However, he said this would also mean that their parents, partners and any other residents of the home would also be required to abide by the two week quarantine and stay at home with the athletes.

Mr Marshall did not respond to the robust criticism from the AOC but suggested the committee was wrong when it said the quarantine arrangements had come as a surprise announcement this week.

“We advised the Australian Olympic Committee last month about our changed situation following the Modbury case,” he said.

“Everybody coming from Sydney has to abide by this. This is a tough rule but these are the rules that have helped keep us protected.”