Three Of Australia's Olympic Skateboarding Team Test Positive For COVID-19

Three members of the Australian skateboarding team, including 13-year-old Melbourne skater Charlotte Heath, devastated after returning positive COVID-19 tests after traveling to the United States for an Olympic qualifying event in Iowa.

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 cases, the entire Australian team are now out from the event because they were considered to be close contacts of the three members who tested positive. 

Skate Australia said the health of the three team members was being monitored daily. The first athlete to test positive occurred in California on the 13th of May prior to the event and was not able to travel to Iowa, confirmed by Skate Australia.  The second athlete tested positive on the 16th of May at the Dew tour at the initial competition registration and was immediately isolated while the coach was tested positive at the same Dew tour on 21st May even though he was not experiencing the serious symptoms of the virus, was also isolated immediately from other team members. The two athletes were not able to compete. 

13-year-old Aussie skater in COVID shock after being forced to miss the qualification event

One of the three who tested positive is 13-year-old Charlotte Heath from Melbourne Victoria, she confirmed her diagnosis on her Instagram to announce to her followers that she had contracted the virus. 

"Pretty bummed about not being able to compete in dew tour In Des Moines this year because I got Covid 19. I have to quarantine for a while now and I was really looking forward to this comp but at least I got to travel to America and go to all the sick skateparks while I could. Good luck to all the other girls and boys competing. It’s going to be sick to watch." She posted on her Instagram account.

Several members of the Australian team declined COVID vaccine

It was recommended for the Team to have one shot of the vaccine in Australia and the second dose in the United States but some members of the team either declined to get the vaccine or they were unable to do so because of their age (minimum age eligible for vaccination is 16 in Australia) according to Skate Australia's high performance manager, James Karageorgiou. He also decided not to reveal whether those who had contracted the virus in the US had a shot for the virus before they flew out to the US. 

Other members of the skate team have tested negative in the PCR tests. Poppy Olsen, an Australian top ranked female skateboarder who tested negative said that the team is devastated. "They're pretty devastated because myself and another member, Keegan Palmer, we were the only two who were really officially locked in to go to the Olympics." 

"Everyone else, this was pretty much their last shot to get in so pretty devastating for those girls."

"Everyone's doing alright, our coach is OK, he's got some cold and flu-like symptoms but he's doing alright and he's being monitored." She said to RN Breakfast. 

Poppy Olsen also said that most of the team had their first dose of the vaccine in Australia before they left. 

"It was pretty difficult for us to get the vaccine in the first place, it was a bit of a push and I think we all knew the challenges and wanted to come and compete at this competition anyway," Poppy Olsen said.

Ian Chesterman of Australia's chef de mission said it was a tough time to the individuals that were involved. 

"Everyone had one injection or vaccination prior to leaving, they'll get a second one over there now and it's just unfortunate that they've ended up in this situation where they're unable to compete in that qualifying event."

“Skateboarding does have young athletes involved in it, but there is a good network in place to support them.”

"I think it's certainly unfortunate for these athletes who've been caught by this but everybody went into the arrangement knowing that there were some risks associated with that." Ian Chesterman said. 

The athletes that would be heading to Tokyo for the Olympics will be fully vaccinated and Ian Chesterman also said that there will be stricter protocols in place. He also said that the scenario is different when going into Tokyo. The athletes will be tested in Australia two weeks prior to departure and athletes around the world are going to be tested two times in the 96 hours before the departure. He also said that they will all be tested everyday and on arrival. As expected when dealing with the virus, the athletes are also expected to wear masks, social distance and practice good hygiene while overseas.

 According to Skate Australia, they believe that the country's medal chances are still high in the Park and Street disciplines. “We believe our medal chances are still alive across both disciplines of park and street.”

The park event takes place in a typical hollowed out park course while the street event features a straight course consisting of obstacles such as handrails, stairs, and benches to mirror the feel of street skateboarding. Both of the skateboarders who tested positive were park skaters and Iowa was the final opportunity for park slaters to qualify.

The AOC (Australian Olympic Committee) said that they will continue working with Skate Australia to assist athletes that are heading to Tokyo. "The AOC will continue to work with Skate Australia to assist athletes who will travel to Japan for the Games, meeting all requirements outlined in the Tokyo Games playbooks as well as any athlete who will be required to return to Australia and enter quarantine back home." A statement released on May 23 said. 

Skateboarding is one of the four brand new sports that will debut at the Tokyo Olympics alongside surfing karate, surfing and sport climbing. From my perspective as a person who skates, I think it's good to see that the sport gets more recognition outside the skateboarding industry because it provides more opportunities for the aspiring skateboarders and skate companies since it is already hard enough to make a career out of skateboarding according to a lot of skaters experiences, myself included because of the lack of exposure to the mainstream. 

Here is a video about the topic, going into more of the details - 

Three members of Australia's Olympic skateboarding team contract COVID-19 | ABC News