- Australia’s Olympic swimming team had a nightmare start in Paris
- The swimmers had to sit on the floor of the bus on their way to training.
- The team is aiming to bring home plenty of gold medals in France.
It was a far from ideal start to Australia’s Olympic swim team’s journey as several star athletes were stuck on an overcrowded bus.
Shayna Jack shared a photo online showing several of her teammates sitting on the floor of a bus during their 45-minute commute to training.
People including Emma McKeon and Zac Stubblety-Cook could be seen wearing face masks due to the sweltering weather.
“Bus rides to pool are packed with people… 45 minutes to competition pool,” Jack wrote.
‘No air conditioning or windows down.
“But it is also lost. A mad beginning to chaos.”
Australians are being extremely vigilant to avoid illness during the two-week bonanza, with five water polo stars already testing positive for Covid.
Australian chef de mission Anna Meares confirmed the spread to nearly half of the 13-woman squad on Wednesday, a day after two players initially tested positive for the virus.
Australian swimmers had a tough start in Paris on a chaotic journey to training
The medal hopefuls begin their campaign in Paris on Saturday against China, and Meares said all five athletes would still be allowed to train later on Wednesday if they were feeling well enough.
“It’s limited to the water polo team,” he said, adding that the entire women’s team had been tested.
‘There will be training again this afternoon and if those five athletes feel well enough to train, they will do so.’
He said they would wear masks, self-isolate and not visit crowded areas of the town.
The Australian team has its own medical testing team for diseases such as COVID-19 and influenza.
“We treat COVID-19 the same way we treat any other respiratory illness, but we want to make sure our protocols work as well,” he said.
He said such concerns were “integral to every Olympic Games.”
The French government and the World Health Organization (WHO) have said there has been only a moderate increase in COVID cases in the country.
“There is no major risk of an outbreak,” Health Minister Frédéric Valletoux told Franceinfo.
“Of course COVID is here. We have seen a small spike (in cases), but we are far from what we saw in 2020, 2021 and 2022.”
