2020. What a year it has been and we are only in month 3! We are certainly going through an extremely scary time with this Covid-19 pandemic. My heart breaks for the state of the world we are living in right now.
This is not a fun newsletter for me to write but it’s important for me to be able to share every part of this journey with you all. I’m sure that it will come to no surprise that I tell you a lot of our competitions for the season have been cancelled with a few still planning to hold them at a later date depending on how this all plays out.
Our season was supposed to start last week where we planned to go to Florida again with members of Team Canada for training camp from March 18-30 and then fly into Arizona for our first race April 3-5. Both events have been cancelled. The IPC Grand Prix that we always participate in in Switzerland has also been cancelled which was supposed to be held in May. This is what we know as of today but can expect some more cancellations with other local meets we do throughout the season usually.
While I do understand, and support these decisions, because the health and safety of everyone is always top priority especially with a group of individuals who may have compromised immune systems, it is definitely heartbreaking.
Due to these cancelations and changes in flights and border closures my family and I made the decision for me to fly home to Bermuda where I will remain until things settle down. While that was a tough decision to make being parted from my coach and teammates physically this was the best option at this time.
As for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic and Olympic Games, if you have not seen in the news, the International Olympic Committee and Tokyo organizing committee are in discussions about what to do re postponement or other options. This decision has been given a deadline of the middle of April. However Canada and now Australia have already announced they will not be sending a team if the games go ahead this year. I wouldn’t be surprised if more countries follow in their footsteps. Having this could also push the IOC and organizing committee to choose the postponement route.
I can’t even begin to imagine the logistical nightmare this is posing on all of the people who have been working on getting these games organized. My heart honestly goes out to all of them for their hard work.
As an athlete, who feels a bit selfish for having these feelings while there are so many people suffering, it’s becoming a hard pill to swallow that the games could be postponed. Every single decision I’ve made the last 4 years since Rio has been based on my journey to getting to the 2020 games. Losing Ken along the way, it has always been the goal to work towards that has played a part in keeping me focused in the sport and continuing on Ken’s legacy. Yes, I can understand that it could just be a matter of a change in date of that goal, but it’s still devastating.
Coming off the success of the 2019 season I was feeling so excited for this season. Feeling stronger than ever and now I will admit it’s getting tough to navigate this standstill. But I know we will fight through this by taking it one day at a time.
Now onto the positives because those silver linings are what helps to get through difficult times.
I am currently still training as usual and Coach Curtis and I will make the necessary changes to my training plan based on what happens in the upcoming months to be sure I am prepared for the games whenever they may be! So here’s to many frustrated fueled training sessions :)
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