Olympians Elaine Thompson-Hera and Alia Atkinson have both expressed apprehension about travelling to international competitions when their sporting events resume in the post-COVID-19 world.

Thompson-Hera, the defending Olympic Games sprint-double champion from Rio in 2016, and Atkinson, the two time short course swimming world record holder, say they are both ready to get back into competition, especially after losing out on earnings, but said the prospect of flying was at the back of their minds.

Both were guests on an online panel discussion put on by the Olympians Association of Jamaica (OAJ) on Thursday under the theme ‘Keeping your competitive edge during the pandemic’.

Asked by moderator Sherone Simpson whether there were any fears of going back into competition post COVID-19 after the layoff, Thompson-Hera said: “Basically my main fear is travelling right now, but I am excited to be back on the track right now… the main fear is just travelling overall right now.”

Atkinson, who was a finalist in the 100m breaststroke at the 2012 Olympics in London, admitted that she, too, had some reservations, but said it came with the times in which we now live.

She said someone coughing close to her could elicit a reaction.

“You are going to feel something whether you have had it already or whether or not if you are a hypochondriac or not,” she said, adding that the real task moving forward would be the health care of individuals.

“It’s going to be hard at the beginning for sure, regardless, but if other people are competing and that is where you make your funds I feel like people are going to show up,” Atkinson said.

Maurice Wilson, the national technical director for track and field, said athletes, especially sprinters, should ease their way back into competition after the layoff as one way to avoid injuries.

“Even though we stress the importance of staying in shape, you know that at times that is not practical, so when they come back to training you have to bear that in mind,” he said. “Progression is extremely important, how you progress with your training intensive, your training volumes and your repetitions, and so on.”

Wilson, the principal at GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport, said if athletes had been staying in shape, “they would be able to progress incrementally”.

“But nothing can replace competition apart from competition…there are few athletes who can not compete and they are able to just move from normal training into competition,” he noted.

The nature of sprinting, Wilson said, mandates that the “incremental approach is the best approach, and so that is why the training programme is divided into different phases”.

“In my opinion, it is important to assess athletes at different phases of their training before getting them into competition,” he said.

Wilson noted that it is incumbent on the technical staff to make certain the athletes under their care are properly prepared for competition.

“Let’s say in August there will be a Diamond League meet and an athlete is invited, I think there should be some form of, if I should say, minor competition whether it be a time trail, that gives you an indication that the athlete is fit and ready.

“Not only that, we talk a lot about the mental, but when you are in a competition it is totally different from training, it does no matter what shape you are in, so incremental progression of how you train and how you get those persons into competition will make a big difference to avoid injuries.”