Olympics 2021: Australian divers ruled out of Tokyo Games because of slow vaccine rollout

Australia’s bungled COVID-19 vaccine rollout and FINA’s unwillingness to budge has shattered the Olympic dreams of Australia’s top divers.

Australia’s bungled COVID-19 vaccine rollout has claimed its first Olympic victims, with up to nine members of the national diving team set to miss Tokyo just because they didn’t get their shots in time.

While other countries have already started vaccinating their athletes in preparation for the Olympics, anxious Aussie competitors are still waiting to find out when their turn will come.

Most international federations have been sympathetic to athletes unable to travel overseas during the pandemic, but Australia’s divers have copped a double whammy because their sport is run by FINA – the notoriously authoritarian body in charge of global aquatic sports.

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Anyone familiar with FINA’s ‘my way or the highway’ approach will not be surprised to learn that Australia’s formal pleas for an alternative qualifying competition fell on deaf ears, with cold-hearted executives callously killing the athletes’ Olympic dreams.

Highly-placed sources in Canberra have told News Corp an agreement to vaccinate Australia’s Olympians could be reached as early as next week, but that’s already too late for the national diving team, whose squad includes several genuine Olympic medal contenders.

Rio Olympic bronze medallists Anabelle Smith and Maddison Keeney will miss the chance to chase gold in Tokyo. Picture: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

National members were told on Friday that the entire squad has been withdrawn from next month’s FINA Diving World Cup qualifying event in Tokyo, after Japanese authorities declared another state of emergency.

Because the World Cup is the last international event for divers to secure Olympic spots, the realisation that their Olympic dream is over has completely devastated the Australian squad members, who were told it all boiled down to the fact they hadn’t been given their jabs yet and FINA wasn’t willing to offer an alternative plan.

“DA considers athlete health and safety our paramount priority and over the last few weeks, it has become clear that it would not be safe to send our athletes and officials to the World Cup. Japan is currently in the grip of a fourth wave of COVID-19,” Diving Australia (DA) said in a statement.

“We remain confident that the Olympics will be a safe event as both DA and the Australian Olympic Committee believe athletes will be vaccinated ahead of the Games. Vaccination has not been possible ahead of the World Cup.”

With just three months remaining until the Opening Ceremony, Australia is already way behind a lot of other countries in terms of vaccinating athletes, with the United States, China, Russia, Britain, Germany, France, Israel and even New Zealand well underway.

Australia’s top divers have been ruled out of the Tokyo Olympics. Picture: AAP Image/Sam Mooy

Both the federal government and the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) have been at pains to state that healthy, mostly young athletes won’t be jumping the queue ahead of anyone in urgent need, although there’s also a recognition that athletes need protection while they are overseas representing the country.

“It’s a high risk situation because they are going into a village where the whole world is congregating,” AOC chief executive Matt Carroll said.

“It’s obviously good for the athletes to get vaccinated but it’s also good for when they return to Australia because it means they’re not coming back ill or carrying the virus.”

Australia has already qualified seven divers in the four individual events at this year’s Olympics but had the chance for up to nine more – one extra individual plus up four pairs in the synchronised diving events, which Australia traditionally does well in.

The casualties include Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith, who won a bronze medal together at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Earlier this month, FINA, whose executive board includes Australian Matt Dunn, a former Olympic swimmer, announced that it was cancelling the Diving World Cup in Japan because of safety concerns.

A week later, FINA backflipped and rescheduled the event for May 1-6, prompting Diving Australia to request an alternative qualifying option for competitors who were prevented from travelling to Japan during the state of emergency.

“FINA has stated that a ‘fair competition is of utmost importance’ and that the World Cup should be a ‘safe, secure and fair Olympic qualification event’, DA said.

“It is our clear position, in light of the current circumstances, that a fair and safe Olympic qualification event is not possible at this time.”