Doran in limbo, but still eyes the Olympics
JAKE Doran had pinpointed the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as his moment to announce himself.
But as the spread of coronavirus shuts down sporting events across the globe, the Townsville track star is one of many athletes clouded in confusion.
Doran is confident his times are competitive enough to get him into the Olympics eventually, he just needs clarification on what he needs to accomplish to qualify.
The 19-year-old had originally planned to compete in several international track meets – including in Germany and Japan.
But travel bans and limitations ensure this will not happen, and with Athletics Australia postponing all domestic competitions the Townsville hopeful is forced to train and wait.
Doran said he never expected something like this would impact his athletic pursuits.
No one did, he said, and its unprecedented nature had thrown the sporting world into disarray,
“That’s all happened over this weekend, a lot of these events go down the drain and that’s a hard pill to swallow,” Doran said.
“There’s no competition until we weather this storm out and that has a massive implication for all sports.
“I think world athletics is faced with a difficult decision of how they deal with a lot of athletes trying to compete.
“There’s a lot of international athletes searching for meets to get those points up.
“Now we have a quarantine, a lot of people’s lives are on hold and it affects the broader community.”
Despite the complexities, Doran’s eyes are still firmly fixed on the Olympics.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said this weekend the Games would proceed as planned. But Doran said each day that passed diminished that possibility.
Regardless of the outcome he said the plans had not changed, merely the finish line had.
“It’s hard to label them as preparations now … (but they) have definitely taken a change,” Doran said.
“But the goal is still the same, we still want to make those Olympics wherever and whenever they are.
“With the immediate events being postponed we have to change our outlook on training and go back into some work and keep the body firing.
“(But) it’s safety first for these athletes, crowds and organisers.”