More than 60 Island-based athletes are expected in Canadian colours a year from today when the Tokyo Olympic Games open.
Of course, they expected to be there today. Nobody could have anticipated a pandemic would overtake an unprepared world.
鈥淲e are all aware of where we would have been right now [in Tokyo],鈥� said Caroline Crossley of Victoria, a member of the medal-touted Canadian women鈥檚 rugby sevens team.
鈥淲e have shifted our focus to prepare for next summer and to be even better. The journey is not over for us.鈥�
The postponement is especially hard on older athletes. Surfing will make its Olympic debut at Tokyo. The delay is easier on 17-year-old Island prodigy Mathea Olin than it is on the aspirations of 37-year-old fellow Tofino boarder Pete Devries.
Many of the veteran Canadian rugby players, about a third of the national women鈥檚 sevens team, were expecting to retire this summer after the Olympics and not return to the national training centre in Langford. House purchases and civilian careers were already arranged back in their hometowns and home provinces.
鈥淭his was a big change in plans, and so a stressful time, for that veteran one-third of our group, but everybody is returning,鈥� said Canadian head coach John Tait of Mill Bay.
Crossley, 22, is committed through to at least Paris 2024 but is grateful the veteran cohort is staying on for Tokyo in 2021.
鈥淓verybody stayed on board,鈥� the former Oak Bay High star said.
University of Victoria Vikes swimming star Danielle Hanus was expected to make her Olympic debut over the next few days after winning four silver medals in her breakthrough last year in the Lima Pan American Games.
Instead, the unexpected four months out of the Saanich Commonwealth Place pool 鈥� the Victoria training group returned to swimming only this week 鈥� allowed her to reconnect with and reflect on what she loved best about her sport.
鈥淗aving the Olympics postponed was disappointing. But it got my mind out of the water to refocus on things I enjoyed about sports in the first place,鈥� said Hanus, a psychology major.
鈥淥ur amazing coaching and support staff here in Victoria helped us through all this, especially our sports psychologist Sharleen Hoar. We just now roll it into next year as a goal.
鈥淚t gives us another year, another opportunity.鈥�
But will there be an opportunity even in 2021? Trying to predict the path of the pandemic into next summer is a mug鈥檚 game at best and the athletes know it.
鈥淭his pandemic changed so quickly and dramatically that it鈥檚 impossible to predict anything about next year,鈥� Crossley said.
But if the NHL, NBA and MLB are ready to play, and the MLS and European pro soccer leagues already have along with the PGA, NASCAR and Formula 1, it鈥檚 probably a good bet that the Olympics will go ahead in 2021.
Even if it has to be in a 鈥渂ubble,鈥� as with the NHL, NBA and others 鈥� essentially a made-for-TV studio event with no fans or with spectators socially distanced.
The reason is the same as it is for the NHL and NBA and other major pro sports. Because of existing TV and sponsorship deals, there is too much money to lose by not playing or holding the Games in some form, albeit bringing together 11,000 athletes from around the world would certainly stretch the bubble more than several hundred NHL or NBA athletes. That could leave it up to national Olympic committees and individual athletes to decide for themselves.
鈥淵ou have to trust that the IOC, COC and Japanese organizers will make the right decisions,鈥� Hanus said.
鈥淚 will go with that.鈥�
Whether Island athletes are part of a Tokyo Olympics next year that will stand as the celebratory cornerstone of the recovery and become one of the most notable and stirring sporting events in history, is anybody鈥檚 guess. The athletes, however, know it鈥檚 out of their hands. They have but one job over the next year.
鈥淲e have to prepare to play,鈥� Crossley said.
