Olympic Champion Mack Horton Makes Mercy Dash Out Of Melbourne To Book His Ticket To Tokyo
Olympic champion Mack Horton has had to make a mercy dash out of Melbourne and into Queensland with a host of Australian Tokyo hopefuls following Victoria’s latest COVID outbreaks – a move which could ultimately secure his place on the Games team.
With 17 days before the Trials (June 12-17) Horton and his fellow Melbourne Vicentre team mates under coach Craig Jackson and a nine-strong team from Nunawading with coach Wayne Lawes were told to “Get out of Melbourne and get out now.”
BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD: Coach Craig Jackson will now be on the Gold Coast preparing his Olympic hopefuls for the Adelaide Trials in June. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).
They will all spend the next two weeks on the Gold Coast – putting the finishing touches to their Olympic Trials preparations – hardly ideal but as Australian Head Coach Rohan Taylor said today: “We were absolutely prepared for this, from going back six months when we looked at Trials and set up our contingencies.
“The first one if swimmers posted times at the Australian Championships or at the Sydney Open we would consider those times and the second one when we would get them out of their State if something happened and get them somewhere where they could continue to train.”
Horton is one swimmer who although he swam at the Australian Championships had not posted a time among the Top Ten Australians in the 200 and 400m freestyle – he will have to post a time at the Trials to put himself in contention for a place on the team – and ultimately the chance to defend his Olympic crown.
NUNAWADING’s NEW WAVE; Australia’s No 1 ranked 400IMer Brendon Smith – no new comer to surf training. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).
Lawes and his Nunawading crew, including leading men, his trio of National champions, Matthew Temple, Bowen Gough and Brendon Smith all trained at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre (GCAC) this morning – but when they left Melbourne they didn’t have any accommodation, which was confirmed while the team was in the air. Given the number of events on the Gold Coast at the moment, accomodation ands hire car vehicles and vans are at a premium.
UP TALLY CREEK! Nunawading’s Olympic Trialists took the plunge into Tallebudgera Creek, Thursday, Queensland time. Photo Courtesy: Wayne Lawes.
And one of those events is the Masters And Country National Water Polo Tournament at the GCAC which has meant the Nunawading and Melbourne Vicentre teams will have to swim when lanes are available – and unable to swim in the pool the Nunawading team ventured down to the picturesque Tallebudgera Creek for some open water training – nothing new for Half Moon Lifesaver Smith who was a member of the Australian Youth Surf Team in 2018.
But after chasing water, it has now been confirmed that both groups will train before and after the water polo competitions, that uses all pools in their round robins with the finals set down for Saturday, with the swim squads gaining normal time access from next week.
Lawes, one of Australia’s most respected coaches, has told his troops they will have to continue to “roll with the punches” and adapt to whatever comes along.
KEEPING THEIR HEADS ABOVE WATER: “Team Nuna” settling into the Gold Coast at Tallebudgera Creek.Photo Courtesy: Wayne Lawes.
“It has been a logistical nightmare but we are getting on with business and even though we couldn’t get pool space this afternoon we were going to make the most of what the Gold Coast has to offer and at Tallebudgera Creek,” said Lawes.
Temple (100 and 200m butterfly), Gough (200m butterfly) and Smith (400IM) have all posted times in their respective events which will hold them in good stead if they need to use those times which see them ranked No 1 in Australia.
Swimming Australia’s High Performance Team of Tamara Sheppard and Kirsty West spent last night booking the squads into accommodation whilst arranging all-important lane space for their training.
If the teams didn’t leave Melbourne yesterday then their appearance at next month’s Olympic Trials at the SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre in Adelaide could well have been thwarted with a 14 day lock out for Victorians coming into South Australia, prior to the meet beginning.
Other athletes have chosen to drive to Adelaide and others have been forced into Sydney, all requiring two negative Covid tests before they arrive for the Trials.
Horton, always an advocate for clean sport, and his team of 10 trained this morning at the Palm Beach Currumbin Aquatic Centre – just 10 minutes from Gold Coast airport, after touching down last night.
All as Swimming Australia HP staff frantically put last minute plans together to book training lanes for Jackson’s team as they too put the final two weeks polish to their preparations.
“It has been a frantic 24 hours…we left Melbourne straight away when we got word that we had to move…everyone is working around the clock to make it happen…” said Jackson, full of praise for the Swimming Australia HP team’s efforts.
“We just have to make the most of the next two weeks before Trials. We were at Palm Beach Currumbin this morning…and I’m getting calls coming through now to update the situation.
“The priority was to get both Wayne Lawes and myself out of Melbourne and settle us in here; it was certainly a big day for everybody.”
“As far as the preparations for Trials are concerned Jackson said: “ You just have to take it on board and run with it…and keep moving forward., you can’t get too caught up with it..you just have to focus on one day at a time and see what we can do from here to the Trials.
“Mack is a professional and he’s already got his head around what has happened and what we need to do.”
ALL HANDS ON DECK: Rohan Taylor (centre) with new Swimming Australia CEO Alex Baumann (right) knows it will be a team effort to get his troops to Tokyo. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).
Australia’s National Head Coach Rohan Taylor said his HP team was prepared and he too praised their efforts.
“We were absolutely prepared for this, from going back six months when we looked at Trials and set up our contingencies,” said Taylor.
“The first one if swimmers posted times at the Australian Championships or at the Sydney Open we would consider those times and the second one when we would get them out of their State if something happened and get them somewhere where they could continue to train.
“Everyone knew when the call came that it was no shock –we told them ‘you need to get moving.’
“Is it ideal ? ‘No. But it is what it is and we are navigating this as it happen. But like the rest of the world who are dealing with challenges like moving around to get access to facility space…it’s been going on for a long time now…
“We need to remember what we have gone through over the last 12 months and build that resilience into today – that’s a really important lesson and then moving forward there will be even more challenges when we get to Tokyo.
“I am not happy what’s happening but I am happy that we did have the contingency to ensure they were able to swim and our HP team can be proud of the job they’ve done.”
A mercy dash, lol. He’s leaving an essentially covid free country for a country ravaged by it.
Can’t wait to. See the Trials streamed live on Amazon Prime Video!