Australia Is Nearly COVID-19 Free. Tokyo-Bound Olympic Surfers Are Reaping the Benefits
Unlike most members of the U.S. Olympic team bound for Tokyo this summer, surfer John John Florence can currently walk into a bar, maskless, without much worry, to enjoy a beer with some friends. These days Carissa Moore, who tops the World Surf League rankings—and who is also Tokyo-bound—can walk stress-free into a supermarket, and shoot hoops with her husband at a local recreation center to take her mind off of Games-related pressure. In late-April, American surfer Caroline Marks did something that sounds almost unimaginable for most Olympians around the world training amidst the COVID-19 pandemic; she attended a friend’s outdoor movie premiere, in the company of hundreds in a maskless crowd having a good time. “It’s awesome not to, you know, live in fear,” says Marks in a telephone interview, from Australia, where she, Moore, Florence and other Olympic surfers are competing and training for the Games.
While so many Olympians around the world grapple with adjusted-training routines and uncertain schedules less than 80 days from the Tokyo Opening Ceremonies, the surfers, who will make their Olympic debut this summer, find themselves pre…
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