Kiwi Olympic hero Dylan Schmidt has suggested changes to New Zealand's managed isolation and quarantine system need to be made in order to allow athletes to do their jobs without having to depend on lucking
New Zealand Olympic star Dylan Schmidt suggests changes to MIQ to support Kiwi athletes
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MIQ has an operational capacity of 4000 rooms per fortnight, and vouchers have been selling out at a rapid rate. According to the Government website, there are 17,000-19,000 users on the website each day on average, while in the first week of August, there was, on average, 19,600 users on the website each day.
Schmidt suggested a facility could be set up specifically for the country's athletes to use, which would allow them to come in and out of New Zealand in order to compete, as it would avoid having to depend on being able to secure a spot in MIQ before committing to their next job.
"That's the decision the Government's made which is fair enough, I'm not going to complain. I think there are options out there to potentially have facilities," Schmidt said.
"There are facilities like [Auckland's] Bruce Pulman [Arena] that have accommodation on site which could maybe be open for athletes so we can come home and keep training, keep competing and keep representing our country because that's what we're doing, we're going over there and trying to represent New Zealand with pride and win medals.
"For a lot of athletes, myself included, it is our livelihood, it's why we compete and it's how we put food on the table," he added.
"It's a challenging situation for the Government and everyone involved. Hopefully things will get easier in the future."
Schmidt also noted the challenges that Covid-19 and the cost of MIQ present for young athletes trying to begin a career.
"It's also tough for your younger athletes trying to come through, there's plenty of people trying to go to these world champs who can't and financially, it's challenging.
"Those athletes coming through [are] not competing for two or three years, they're 17 and 18 years old, it's tough to stay motivated and I really feel for them, feel for everyone – every athlete trying to come through in New Zealand, it's not an easy thing, because they want to compete and perform just as much as me."