Swim England
British athletes share positive messages amid coronavirus outbreak
24 March 2020Great Britain’s elite athletes have shared inspirational messages and tips for staying healthy amid the coronavirus outbreak.
With the Olympic hopefuls awaiting a decision on the Tokyo 2020 Games, there is much uncertainty as they attempt to continue training in isolation.
But Adam Peaty insists ‘it is necessary to put our health as humans before our performance as athletes’.
The Olympic champion urged his Instagram followers to ‘stay positive, find new hobbies, read new books’ and ‘use this time to excel in something new’.
Swim England and clubs across the country will be sharing training plans to keep members active in the coming weeks and Tom Daley has created a series of his own.
The Olympic diver released the first of his 10-minute home workouts on Instagram, sending an important message about mental health.
He wrote: “It is something we all need to be really mindful of in these times – that is why I try to do a home workout each morning to kick start my day.”
‘Stay safe’
Alice Tai is in the best form of her career, but the para-swimmer insists nothing is more important than the health of the British population.
She wrote on Twitter: “Sending lots of love to everyone at the moment, especially those within the swimming community.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty with training and competitions being cancelled, but in the long term, it’s all for the best.
“Stay safe, healthy and be sensible.”
Commonwealth medallist and Olympic swimmer Molly Renshaw also shared a message of positivity.
On Instagram, she said: “We’re keeping our chins up and remaining positive whilst we pray that things get better and we will soon have a solution!
“Sending lots of love to everyone around the world affected by this.”
The Great Britain artistic swimming team has called for unity through these testing times, insisting ‘we are in this together’.
The team is ‘finding ways to keep up motivation, training and focus on future goals’ by holding weekly virtual sessions and setting a new challenge each week.
Remaining resilient
Swimmers it’s tough at the moment… goals and dreams being challenged…
Keep your chins up!
And remember…
RESILIENCE
‘the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness’Champions have Resilience 💙
— David Hemmings (@DaveHemmingsGBR) March 20, 2020
British and Loughborough National Centre coach Dave Hemmings admitted that ‘goals and dreams are being challenged’, but urged swimmers to ‘keep your chins up!’.
That was a message shared by Max Litchfield and Leah Crisp.
Litchfield says “we must stick together and move forward with a positive mindset”.
Meanwhile, Crisp has a simple but important piece of advice: “Stick together and stay safe and positive, control the controllables and look after one another.”