GAMES CAN WAIT
Athletes praise Canada’s leadership and hope other nations will follow suit
Local Olympians OK with not going
Regina athletes Quinn Dornstauder and Brian Palaschuk have mixed feelings over the decision by the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic committees not to send teams to the 2020 Summer Olympics based on the current schedule.
“It’s frustrating, it’s sad,” said Dornstauder, a member of the Canadian women’s basketball team that had already qualified for the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.
“It comes down to health, and not only doing what’s right for athletes, but for everyone else. This is a turbulent period and everybody is having a hard time. It’s not fun, but this is probably the right decision.”
The committees issued a joint statement on Sunday, calling for the International Olympic Committee to postpone the Summer Games for a year due to COVID -19.
Canada was the first country to announce its position on the Summer Olympics after the IOC announced on Sunday it would take four weeks to reach a final decision on whether to postpone the Summer Games.
“For the sport of swimming, it’s the right decision because of the field of play and how unfair it was, and that was the biggest problem for athletes around the world,” said Palaschuk, one of Saskatchewan’s top swimmers.
“Some of the most elite athletes in the world have facilities to train in, and some had already pre-qualified for the Olympics, so they’re preparing uninterrupted. Most of the athletes in Canada and the U.S., we can’t train at all. Even if we were able to qualify, we wouldn’t have been well prepared.”
Australia revealed Monday that it’s not sending its teams to the 2020 Summer Olympics based on the current schedule. On Monday, Japan’s leaders raised the possibility of postponing (but not cancelling) the Summer Games.
“I hope that other countries can follow our example,” said Dornstauder, 24. “What we’re asking for is not to cancel the Games, but just to postpone them. If enough countries do that, they’ll have to make a decision.”
Palaschuk was looking forward to the Canadian Olympic team trials, scheduled for March 30April 5 in Toronto. Those trials were cancelled on March 13 due to pools being shut down. If not for the coronavirus, Palaschuk would have been in Florida this week, preparing for the trials.
“We’re in the worst shape of all athletes right now,” said Palaschuk, 22. “Even some of the best swimmers in the world can’t get in the water right now because it’s impossible.
“We train for four hours a day and it’s largely cardio. We’re the only sport that can do those volumes because it’s low impact. Trying to replace that with a high impact exercise isn’t feasible, so we’re doing as much as we can in terms of cross-training. You can’t replace (our training methods) because there’s no other medium where you turn your arms 20,000 times. It just doesn’t work like that.”
Despite his frustration, Palaschuk supports the COC’S decision.
“For Canada to take that first step is great leadership for the international sporting community,” he said. “It sets a precedent that a lot of other countries are going to follow.”
Dornstauder was playing pro basketball in Spain — one of the nations hardest hit by the coronavirus — before returning to Regina. Through the assistance of her agent and the team (Zamarat), she was able to fly home.
Instead of playing for Zamarat on the weekend, she’s in self-isolation for at least another week.
“I was lucky to get out pretty fast, because I had a sense that things had been changing daily,” said Dornstauder, a graduate of Leboldus who played for the Golden Suns. “Things literally went from no problems to, by Day 3, they had sent us home.
“Things got really serious really fast and it was starting to get strange by the time I left. I got out the last day before the lockdown, but I have friends who are still stuck there.”
It comes down to health, and not only doing what’s right for athletes, but for everyone else. This is a turbulent period and everybody is having a hard time.