Guelph's Olympians have plans to race in Rio and not join the ranks of athletes who skip next month's Games due to health and safety concerns.
"It's the Olympics and we've been really informed by our COC medical staff and our medical staff we have here in Guelph with Triathlon Canada," Canadian triathlete Andrew Yorke said. "We'll have a good setup and at the end of the day, it's the big show for us."
Some athletes have pulled out of the Games due to concerns over contracting the Zika virus, Rio's sanitation, Brazil's political and economic instability and the construction of the athletes village being behind schedule.
"I've heard all the rumours about it," said triathlete Jason Wilson, a University of Guelph student who trains in Guelph and is to compete for Barbados at Rio. "We've been training six years trying to qualify for these Games and that's probably the last thing I'm worried about. I'm more worried about my preparation for the race."
Neither Yorke nor Wilson are concerned with the water quality for the swimming portion of the triathlon. Both competed in a triathlon there last year and said that no athlete got sick due to that.
The condition of the water isn't a concern for swimmer Evan VanMoerkerke, a member of both the Guelph Gryphons varsity swim team and the Guelph Marlin Aquatic Club.
"Being a pool athlete, there's a lot less risk," he said. "I know the swim events aren't in a high-risk area and being indoors is also a benefit to that. It's in a pool so the whole open-water effect doesn't affect me. The water quality, being in a chlorinated, filtered pool, there's no issues there. I have no safety concerns with going there. No worries."
While Yorke, Wilson and VanMoerkerke will all be competing in their first Olympics at Rio, it'll be the third for marathoner Eric Gillis and he shares their no-worries attitude. Gillis also competed in the marathon in London in 2012 and the 10,000 metres in Beijing in 2008.
"It's not a concern for me," he said. "I think it's a pretty small percentage of people [withdrawing from the Games] and you always wonder how many of those people are using it as an excuse. Maybe they're tired. These are people that the Olympics isn't the biggest thing for them."
The athletes also stress that they're used to less-than-ideal conditions when they compete at non-Olympic events so they're not about to miss competing at the Games they've been working toward for four years or more.
"You go to races all the time and you're dealing with adverse conditions," Yorke said. "You're staying at maybe not the best hotels because you're paying for it out of your own pocket or whatever it is. This isn't anything new. If it is going to be not as good as people are making it seem, we'll just make the most of it. We're Canadian. We're tough and we get on with the job."
The Rio Olympics are to start Aug. 5.
