Safety bubble to be set up at Sports Institute for first swimming Olympic qualifier in more than a year
- The March 21 meet will be held behind closed doors in Fo Tan and will be the first home qualifier since January last year
- Officials said more Olympic qualifying meets could be held before the deadline closes in June
A safety bubble will be set up at the Sports Institute swimming pool later this month to allow Hong Kong swimmers the opportunity to reach the Olympic qualifying mark – the first local meet to be held in more than a year.
The Hong Kong Olympic Time Trial has been scheduled to take place behind closed doors at the Fo Tan training base on March 21, with only elite training grant swimmers allowed to take part. At the moment, there are 66 swimmers – full-time and part-time – under the Institute’s scholarship programmes, while some 30-plus potential athletes will not be eligible to take part in the qualifying meet.
There will be a limited number of officials on event day with no spectators allowed to cheer for the swimmers. Members of the press have also been barred from the event as local swimming tries to get back on its feet after more than a year living under pandemic conditions.
All participants will be tested for Covid-19 before the event. Full-time athletes are being tested by the Institute on a weekly basis, while part-time swimmers and officials will be required to take the test three days before the event. All officials and part-time athletes can only enter the Institute with a negative test result.
“It has been a long time since we last held a meet for the Olympic qualifiers,” said Ronnie Wong Man-chiu, president of the Amateur Swimming Association. “We have been making great efforts trying to put up the event so that our swimmers can have the chance again to compete and not only just train in the pool with no real race [experience].