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As I said in my last message, Olympic things are happening every day. Updated versions of the Tokyo 2020 Playbooks have recently been posted, some competitions are happening and, yes, some are being rescheduled or cancelled. However circuitous the route, I know that we are all doing everything we can to learn/adapt to change as needed, as we move closer to our goals every day.
In the media and online, we see great things and some set-backs from our Team Canada peers around the world. Please know that our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Mike Wilkinson, is collecting information from these events/teams/athletes and passing along best practices and pitfalls to your NSO.
I would recommend that you have a look at the updated Tokyo 2020 Athlete Playbook. Examples of what you’ll see in this version include a more specific definition of what a close contact is, as well as the protocol for if you become a close contact of someone with a positive test (let’s hope this doesn’t happen, but let’s be informed in case it does.) The Playbook instructs that you should expect to be tested daily (currently a saliva antigen test) while in Tokyo. It might be a bit of a bummer that if you win a medal you’ll have to wear a mask on the podium, but consider this…YOU WON A MEDAL!!! (at the Olympics that weren’t cancelled!) ☺
The Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee isn’t the only group creating plans to keep you safe. With an eye on maintaining the safest and highest quality of support and service to you, Team Canada’s Mission Team – the group of people who work or volunteer to support you at Games (Health Services Team, Outfitting, Transportation, Accommodation, Communications, Logistics, Sport Services, etc) – has streamlined our Tokyo presence quite a bit. The goal is to minimize the number of people around you who aren’t directly involved in sport performance. For example, in my own “Office of the Chef de Mission” some people I count on will be assisting me from New Brunswick (on Japan time!). We will have many essential Mission Team members working from Canada.
Moving forward every day. | Aller de l’avant chaque jour.
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