Back on Track for Austrian Athletes

(ATR) Approximately 600 Austrian athletes have returned to training at six Olympic Training Centers and other sports facilities around Austria.

Additionally, Austrian ski racers will head to glaciers for on-snow ski testing camps this week. All athletes will undergo strict COVID-19 testing before being cleared for training.

Austrian NOC president Karl Stoss tells Around the Rings that the re-opening of the training centers is a vital step to some return to normalcy for Austrian athletes seeking to qualify for Tokyo 2020 and their coaches.

"It’s about equal opportunity for European countries," Stoss said. "Athletes can practice in quite normal conditions in Germany, Norway and other Scandinavian countries.

"Our athletes are really grateful they can go back to their work and practicing," said Stoss, an IOC member and the Austrian NOC president since 2009.

Olympic training centers in Dornbirn, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Linz, Salzburg-Rif, and St. Pölten opened last week. An additional center in Vienna, which normally is used by Austrian sailors and is normally available to the public, may also open in the near future. The breakdown of the Austrian athletes is roughly 400 from winter sports and 200 from summer sports.

In addition to coronavirus testing of all athletes, numerous other government safety measures have been implemented including the requirement for all coaches to wear masks, two-meter social distancing and for athletes training indoors to maintain 20 square meter distancing from their fellow athletes.

"It was a great feeling to be able to run with spikes on a normal track," says Austrian heptathlete Verena Preiner, who resumed training at the Upper Austria Olympic Training Center in Linz. "I’m really happy to be able to train again with my coach. At home, obviously, I could not practice long and high jump, as well as 100-meter hurdles.

"We are caring a lot about all health measures – my coach is wearing a mask during our training which looks quite funny," says the world’s number three ranked heptathlete.

Stoss informs that 39 Austrian athletes have already achieved quota places for Tokyo 2020. He expectsan additional 75 qualifiersfrom the 200 summer athletes chosen for training.

The NOC chief emphasizes that the Austrian sport minister and top government health officials were closely consulted and involved with approving the re-opening of the Olympic training centers. Austria has so far escaped the worst of the crisis with a relatively low number of infections at just over 15,000, and 530 deaths.

There is also hope that athletes competing in contact sports like judo and karate may be allowed to return to training over the weeks ahead.

"We will try very hard to make the next step for them just in our training centers to concentrate and control it," Stoss said.

Stoss says he believes that the Austrian NOC procedures and guidelines can be an example, leading the way for other sports facilities around the country to open to the public.

Masks from Chinese NOC

The Austrian NOC received 10,000 masks from the Chinese Olympic Committee, a goodwill gesture as part of a previous agreement for Austrian coaches and officials to assist less experienced Chinese winter sport athletes in their development for Beijing 2022.

"As soon as COVID-19 hit us with all the restrictions the Chinese Olympic Committee contacted us and offered their help sending us 10,000 face masks," Stoss said.

"We’ve given them to the Olympic Training Centers and to the athletes and coaches directly," he said. "We are very thankful to the Olympic Committee of China."

Positive Change For the Olympic Movement

Stoss believes European NOCs and the Olympic Movement need to work towards tighter cooperation moving forward, as has been seen during the global fight against COVID-19.

"This could be a really great step to start closer cooperation between, for example, the European NOCs," Stoss said. "Some of us have really good training possibilities, while others don’t have it. To help each other, that could be the way to improve our success for the future.

"We have to start thinking about how we can become a closer family and go beyond the symbol of the Five Rings, what we can do among National Olympic Committees and International Sport Federations to make these rings stronger for the future.

"It’s an excellent idea to show the young people what we can do when we are working closer together."

Thiem Could Take Part in Tokyo in 2021

Not all athletes are being negatively impacted by the one-year postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Games.

Austrian world number three tennis player Dominic Thiem was initially going to skip Tokyo 2020 due to a contractual agreement to play in the Generali Open Kitzbuehel around the same dates. Stoss is optimistic that the 26-year-old tennis star will now represent Austria in 2021, taking advantage of the change in schedule.

"He told us and the Austrian newspapers that he is looking forward to maybe starting at the Olympic Games in Tokyo," Stoss said.

"This would be a very big chance for Austrian to bring home another medal. We have to think about the positive side of this crisis."

Written by Brian Pinelli

Follow Brian on Twitter - @Brian_Pinelli

For general comments or questions,click here.

Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.Written by Brian Pinelli