THE postponement of this year’s Olympic Games, due to have started in late July, has had a massive effect on a multitude of athletes, among them star Madibaz swimmers, Alaric and Alard Basson.
The Uitenhage-based twins should have been lining up an assault on the South African Olympic trials by now, but instead find themselves having to come up with innovative ways to stay fit during the 35-day Covid-19 lockdown.
Their aim was to achieve the qualifying times for the Olympic Games, but they now must reassess the situation in the face of an altered future.
After some debate last month, the Tokyo Olympics organisers postponed the games to July and August next year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Alaric said the postponement of the Olympic Games had left them with various issues to consider.
“It’s easy to say, ‘look at the bright side, you have a bit more time to prepare’, but the reality is that we, like everyone else, aren’t able to prepare the way we would have liked or the way that was set out for us,” he said.
“Now we are a bit on the back foot and have to completely change our way of training and preparing.”
He acknowledged that it might help those who had pools, but most swimmers were in a similar position during lockdown.
“Having spoken to some swimmers, it’s clear to see we are all affected by this.
“But we are staying positive by tackling what is in front of us and doing what we can.
“This is not a time for relaxing and lying back,” said Alaric.
Although the Olympics are next year, Alaric, whose specialty is the breaststroke event, said it would still be challenging for them if the SA trials took place this year, possibly in June.
“It could be a bit difficult seeing that we would not have been in the water for nearly a month. And then I’m not sure if the time that’s left for preparation will be enough because obviously, we don’t know how this will affect the way we feel in the water until we eventually get back into a pool,” he said.
However, with qualifying for the Olympics still his top priority, Alaric said he was focused on staying positive.
“We are trying our best to adapt in this time and come out of it the best as we can, so that when we get back in the water we are as fit as we can possibly be, said Alaric.
“The Olympics are the ultimate goal so I will continue striving for that.”
An accomplished butterfly exponent, Alard said he was trying to use the break to seriously consider how he would go about achieving his ambitions.
“I understand it has severely impacted on our training, but I do feel that this period has given me a lot of time to reflect, visualise and analyse more on various aspects within my sport and my approach.
“My goals haven’t changed. I still want to achieve those and while the physical side has been disrupted my focus has not changed. Competing in the Olympics is the dream and it is a goal I have been working towards for most of my life.
“To get discouraged now because of the situation we find ourselves in, and letting that affect my preparation, I would be doing myself a great injustice.”
Alard agreed with Alaric that there would be an unknown factor when they resumed swimming, regarding their fitness levels.
“We are doing the necessary strength training and focusing on getting stronger to put ourselves in the best possible position when we get back into the pool after the lockdown,” he said.
