Health Scare Keeps New Zealand Olympic Swim Team in Cairns

New Zealand’s Olympic swim team will miss out on some race practice after a planned meet in Canberra was cancelled following a health scare.

Swimming Australia cancelled the Grand Prix Meet after the Australian Institute of Sport reported two cases of whooping cough from visiting athletes, to limit any risk of infection.

The New Zealand squad has been in training in Cairns for the past two weeks and were to compete at the Grand Prix for race practice before heading back to New Zealand. They will instead remain in Cairns until Saturday before returning.

“The Grand Prix would have provided a chance for a race hit-out and to trial the relay combinations in race mode but will not seriously affect the team preparation plans,” said Campaign Leader, Rushdee Warley.

“The coaches said they are relatively relaxed and can put into place some in-house racing in Cairns to replicate what they would have got from the meet in Canberra.

“They agree that cancelling the meet was the correct decision to make as a precaution.”

The team will return to their home bases before assembling in Auckland later this month and heading out to Belgium for their final preparation camp.