{"id":422581,"date":"2020-03-15T03:35:53","date_gmt":"2020-03-15T10:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=422581"},"modified":"2020-03-18T13:49:43","modified_gmt":"2020-03-18T20:49:43","slug":"new-zealand-marches-on-in-march-madness-of-cancellations-olympic-trials-to-be-held-without-spectators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/new-zealand-marches-on-in-march-madness-of-cancellations-olympic-trials-to-be-held-without-spectators\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand Marches On In March Madness Of Cancellations: Olympic Trials To Be Held Without Spectators"},"content":{"rendered":"

By \u00a0Dave Crampton <\/em><\/p>\n

Swimming New Zealand<\/strong> is the only federation worldwide that has announced this week that it will be holding Olympic trials this month.\u00a0In an announcement today, Swimming New Zealand said the New Zealand Open Championships, due to start in Auckland on March 31, will be held but with no spectators. It is understood that if a swimmer feels unwell during the meet, they will have to leave the venue and will be refunded meet entry fees.<\/p>\n

The previous day, the New Zealand government\u00a0 announced that anybody travelling to New Zealand, apart from those from the Pacific Islands, will have to self-isolate for 14 days from midnight Sunday to Monday local time<\/a>\u00a0in an attempt to contain the coronavirus\u00a0 (COVID-19) pandemic, which has had eight confirmed cases in New Zealand. An eight-member team from Singapore had intended to compete at the championships.<\/p>\n

As a result of the announcement,\u00a0 three teenage swimmers who are based at the Australian St Peter\u2019s Western club, Eve Thomas, Michael Pickett and Lea Muellner,\u00a0 made a mad dash into New Zealand to beat the strict coronavirus quarantine border controls<\/a>, that would force the swimmers to miss the trials. Thomas is seeking to qualify for Tokyo, having already swam under the qualifying time.<\/p>\n

Later this week, Swimming New Zealand\u00a0 will be announcing dates of an additional Olympic trial event in June\u00a0 for those athletes who are not able to compete at\u00a0 this month due to the\u00a0 inbound travel restrictions or are unable to trial at northern hemisphere events due to those events being cancelled.<\/p>\n

Extraordinary Events In Swimming History:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Italy, France, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Brazil and Japan have all had major meets affected by the coronavirus pandemic, while in the United States, the NCAA Championships have been cancelled and USA Swimming has imposed a 30-day suspension on all events, while Canada is considering what to do about its Olympic trials early next month. In Italy, where swimmers are struggling to maintain normal routines, can\u2019t get to practice and in some cases find pool time, a #stopolympics campaign was launched by the Nuoto\u00a0website<\/a> calling on solidarity among swimming nations to recognise that Olympic preparations have been blown off course and that it would be in the interests of fairness to postpone the Games for a time of calm beyond the coronavirus crisis.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Our coverage:<\/em><\/p>\n