The AOC held an Executive Board meeting via teleconference this morning and unanimously agreed that an Australian Team could not be assembled in the changing circumstances at home and abroad.
AOC Chief Executive Matt Carroll says athletes have needed certainty – they wanted to do the right thing for themselves, their families and the world community.
“We have athletes based overseas, training at central locations around Australia as teams and managing their own programs. With travel and other restrictions this becomes an untenable situation.
“The IOC had adopted the key principles of putting athlete health first and ensuring it acted in their best interests and the interests of sport. This decision reflects those principles.
“We are now in a position where we can plan with greater certainty.â€
Read olympics.com.au
Swimming Australia supports this decision and has decided to shut down its high-performance programs:
Following the government’s most recent advice and further restrictions being imposed across the country, and after consultation with high performance coaches, Russell said Swimming Australia’s high performance programs would also immediately shut down.
“It is clear that to stop the spread of COVID-19 we must all follow government advice and practice physical distancing,†Russell said.
“In light of all non-essential services being shut down we will suspend all of our Olympic and Paralympic training programs for the foreseeable future.
“The safety and health of our athletes, coaches, staff, their families and our community, is paramount at the moment.â€
Read swimming.org.au
