SUMMER OLYMPICS
Athletic's Eugene Vollmer, said nothing changes for him as he uses the postponement of the Olympic Games to prepare well
Team Fiji hopeful, Athletic Fiji's Eugene Vollmer, is adamant that nothing changes for him as he uses the postponement of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 as a means to prepare well for 2021.
In a joint statement, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Tokyo 2020 said the Games had been rescheduled to "safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community".
"Nothing really changes, the postponement just means that we'll have to prepare for the Games like we did last year when preparing for the Olympics that was supposed to be held this year," Eugene said.
"Which means off season won't start till July of this year."
He said the major obstacle he will face during this postponement is the restriction of movement.
"Because we've become so used to training every day, our coaches and ourselves have had to become creative and resourceful in terms of keeping fit during this time," Eugene said.
He said so far information if yet to come from the World Athletics body in terms of updated qualification processes and or standards.
"So I take it that everything will return to status quo in terms of qualification when next year comes," Eugene said.
"Well that's how I'll approach things in terms of training and qualification."
Because finance is a huge factor, for athletes when they prepare for the Olympics, Eugene said there really isn't much people can do in terms of going for competitions overseas.
"We really won't see any organized competitions until maybe the end of the year or beginning of next year," he said.
"This is when we will start to think about finances and plan around how we can best utilise financially what we have."
Eugene hopes to become Fiji's first triple jumper to participant at an Olympics and has so far participated in four qualifying events over two months in Australia where he was hoping to be among the top 40 athletes ranked in the world.
Eugene is one of six Fiji athletes who, as IOC Scholarship recipients, receive a training grant specifically to assist towards qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Other recipients include Robert Elder (Archery), Winston Hill (Boxing), Tevita Takayawa (Judo), Matelita Buadromo and EpeliRabua (Swimming).
Sally Yee (Table Tennis) a scholarship recipient through a joint IOC and Japan Table Tennis Association is another athlete vying for Tokyo 2020 qualification, who is currently back in Fiji after the High School she was attending in Japan closed down due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
