71 Princess St, Bundaberg QLD 4670
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I know all my avid fans and readers of this column will be saddened by the news that I will not be attending the Olympic Games as a competitor this year. After days (if not a week) of intense training to represent Australia in any sport I could bribe my way into – my doctor has put the final nail in the coffin of my selection by informing me that the risk to my health from Covid-19 was too great.
In a way he broke it to me slowly and gently to allow me time to get over the disappointment – his exact words were the following “Davo, after examining you and reading up on your medical history (taking me over 5 nights to read all the information from the many health departments who have treated you over the last year) – it is with great sadness to tell you that, in my opinion, you should shelve your dreams of attending the Olympic Games in Tokyo. In fact, it is my opinion that you shelve your dreams of representing Australia in any sport for the next century. In fact, it is my opinion that you shelve your dreams of doing any sport for the rest of your life.
It is not because of your arthritis, your degenerate knees, your chronically sore back, your bung shoulder, your kinked neck, your poor eyesight, your lack of hand/eye coordination, your arrhythmic heart, your obesity or your lack of talent.
My main concern is your asthma and your chronic bronchitis. If you were to go to Japan to compete and happened to get Covid then there is a strong possibility that you would end up in a life-threatening condition and I am not sure the Australian Government would want you back here (in fact I am not sure the Government wants you back here even if you did not have Covid).
It is with a heavy heart and with some sadness that I must advise you to not go to the Olympics this year (or any other year for that matter).” I must admit that I sat there in shock – I mean to say I had spent the last week not eating any cream buns, not scoffing down any pies or pizzas and only drinking 2 litres of Fanta a day as well as doing my intense training regime that lasted at least 10 minutes every day (I must admit I had split the training into sessions of 2 minutes each) that involved me running to the toilet, leaping over fallen sticks, touching my toes in a sitting position, stretching my body while lying in bed and basically pushing my body to the limit before each snack on high energy foods such as cakes and chocolate.
To put myself through this pain and then be told that I was at risk from some virus was a bit hard to take. I staggered from the doctor’s rooms and headed off to McDonalds to recover. But by the 3rd Big Mac – I knew the doctor was right. The risk was too great and there would be other Olympics – I just need to learn to ski or ice skate in the next year and I could try out for the next Winter Olympics.
Have a wonderful month and I will talk to you then. Regards Davo