Tokyo Olympics 2021: Steve Solomon feels safe heading to Games

Track and field co-captain Steve Solomon insists he feels safe heading to Tokyo despite positive tests inside the athletes’ village and a scare at the pre-Games camp in Cairns

Steve Solomon says he feels safe as he prepares to head to Tokyo for the Olympics Picture: John Appleyard

Track and field co-captain Steve Solomon insists he feels safe heading to Tokyo as the Australian Olympic Committee plays down talk of a Covid scare at a pre-Games camp in Cairns as the first cases emerge at the athletes’ village.

Solomon is among a group of athletes who have been stuck in Sydney due to border restrictions but he has kept a close eye not only on the team camp in Cairns, but events in Japan where there have been two positive tests inside the athletes’ village.

A Nigerian official was also hospitalised with Covid-19 after testing positive at the airport on Thursday. The Australian team has not been immune to the Covid threat, suffering a setback of their own when tennis star Alex de Minaur was forced out of the Games after testing positive.

“I am feeling very excited,” Solomon said.

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“Given the state of the world and where everyone is coming in from, and the amount of people who are coming to the Games, just by the law of numbers there are going to be some cases of Covid.

“It’s horrible to see the Olympics being taken away from athletes, especially Australian athletes from a close-to-home standpoint.
“For me, I have been doing everything I can to minimise my chances of catching Covid. I have been sticking to a really small bubble.

“I am feeling really excited. It has been a long time for me between putting on an Australian team uniform – it has been nine years since London.

“So the excitement is starting to come back now. Everything I have heard is phenomenal with what is going on (in Tokyo).

“The other advantage these Olympics have is sport across the world has been going on with Covid for over a year so we have learnt a lot.

“The success of the bubble – for example the NBA bubble over in the United States – Covid had been rife in the United States and they were able to shut it off and almost create a vacuum.

“The fact we are having testing every day and a whole bunch of other protocols I am not even aware of right now, I feel very safe going into it, both in terms of not becoming very ill from Covid because I have been vaccinated, but also minimising the chances that I will contract the virus over there.”

The Australian Olympic Committee on Sunday confirmed a staff member with the track and field team in Cairns had returned two negative tests after initially producing an inconclusive test on joining their pre-Olympic camp.

The staff member was placed in quarantine while officials awaited the final confirmation of their negative test and the other members of the athletics team were confined to barracks on Saturday afternoon.

Athletics Australia were given the green light to Queensland Health to hold a warm-up event on Sunday afternoon.

“The team will continue to be tested during its training camp in Cairns and will complete the mandatory 96 hour and 72 hours tests prior to departure for Tokyo,” the AOC said in a statement.

Rather than join the team in Cairns prior to departure, Solomon will link up with the track and field squad in Tokyo.

In the meantime, he will continue to finetune his own preparations in Sydney and work with co-captain Dani Stevens on ensuring the mood within the squad is conducive to producing their best in Tokyo.

“We both had very successful junior careers and had experienced success on the senior level at young ages,” Solomon said of Stevens.

“Now 10 years-plus on in our journey in the national team, we have a bond across those years. We have competed on a lot of teams together and gone through those experiences.

“The other thing about Dani … is she is just a phenomenal person. I still remember the first time I met Dani because of the impact she left on me.

“I would have been 16 at the time at a competition in Sydney and she had just won the world championship in 2009.

“She came over and introduced herself to me and made me feel so special, not just saying hello but engaging in a conversation.

“With her, I was nobody at the time, That is the character of Dani and that is the ethos she is going to bring to the team as well – whether you are coming in as a medal favourite or you are someone who is there for your first Olympics, Dani is going to make you feel at home, she is going to make you feel confident, she is going to make you feel inspired.

“I hope to be able to do the same.”