Having good fortune around Covid could have a dramatic impact on the Irish team at the Tokyo Games in July. Olympic hopefuls, more than ever, need to stay healthy from the virus or they will miss out on significant preparation time.
In the absence of being vaccinated , any Irish athlete who is infected between now and the beginning of the Olympics in late July, will be forced out of the system for up to 30 days. That currently equates to approximately 25 per cent of the remaining run-in time for over 50 Irish athletes, who have already qualified.
Chief medical officer, Dr Jim O’Donovan, along with other medical representatives in the Sport Ireland Institute, which launched its annual review on Monday, outlined the return to play protocols and the increasingly serious impact of testing positive for Covid.
“This protocol, adopting the latest research available, carefully monitors symptoms over a period of 10-30 days post-infection, while slowly raising the volume and intensity of training efforts,” says the review.
“In effect, the current guidelines suggest that an athlete will not be back to full training for a period of approximately 30 days after contracting the virus. This close to the Tokyo Games, the potentially negative impact on performance is clearly evident.”
The Institute building was closed for 75 days in 2020 but has remained operational through the second and third lockdowns, and while the number of cases in the high-performance community was very low, the Christmas period contributed to a surge in numbers.
Overall there were 28 positive cases comprising 23 athletes and five support staff. In addition there were a number of incidents of close contacts, 12 athletes and seven support staff.
As a number of sports have not yet gone through the qualification process, staying Covid-free is even more critical. Boxing has just one athlete, Brendan Irvine, qualified after the tournament last year in London was abandoned, while the women’s hockey team have qualified, with 30 athletes currently in their group trying to stay healthy. Of the 30 players, 23 will travel to the Games.
What may also have an impact is that Irish medical authorities have advised Irish athletes not to take the Chinese vaccine, which the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have acquired and offered to competing teams.
The IOC has already stated that it will not be mandatory for athletes to be immunised to attend the Games. To do so would discriminate against less developed countries who have restricted access to the vaccine.
However, the IOC indicated last week to the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of China that they could provide vaccines for visiting teams.
“The IOC have said it [vaccination] will not be mandatory to attend the Games,” said Sport Ireland director Liam Harbison. “They have indicated last week with the NOC for China that they will provide vaccines for teams travelling to the Games. However, it is only to nations where the Chinese vaccines have been authorised by their medical health authorities. As it stands Ireland doesn’t qualify for that scheme.
“I know a lot of the back-up team physios and frontline workers, they have been vaccinated already and a number of the team based in the North are vaccinated as well. We are hopeful the natural roll out will mean the team will be immunised prior to travel.”
Harbison added that he was “very confident the Games would proceed” as the IOC said they would go ahead last year before a vaccine had been discovered. The stress accompanying the postponement of the event from last year to this year and the hastily rearranged schedules, has caused anxiety.
“It’d be a 20 per cent increase on what we had planned for this year already,” said Harbison on additional psychological demands. “There are some concerns out there, anxieties amongst athletes around Covid, concerns around travelling and coming home to families. There’s so many things in the mix.”
