Why Olympian Jade Lally is one of the lucky ones during lockdown

The Horsham athlete, who now lives in Australia, is one of many athletes who has found training limited since coronavirus hit in March and impacted heavily on sport.

But the Brtish number one knows she has had more opportunities than most during this difficult time.

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The 33-year-old moved to Ipswich, near Brisbane, at the beginning of September because her boyfriend Brenton, who is in the Australian army, was posted there.

Lally said: “We had a choice of here, Melbourne and Darwin.

“This was the best choice for us and a family and me as an athlete.”

And the Commonwealth medal-winning athlete noticed straight away the stark differences between the UK and Australian lockdowns.

She said: “Covid here is very different to the UK.

“The cases are significantly less than the UK and Queensland is definitely seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

“Although the 14-day isolation was incredibly difficult - no windows that opened, only 25minutess of fresh air in 14 days, physically not allowed out of the hotel room for the entire time, it is worth it to live life almost pre-Covid normal.

“It’s very strange to know where we came from and what we now have.”

The global pandemic has seen sport hit heavily with major events - including the Tokyo Olympics - being moved back a year, so it’s been a tough time for elite level athletes.

But new mum Lally had some distractions.

“This year was an interesting year,” said Lally, who used to train at Broadbridge Heath Leisure Centre.

“I think a lot of athletes struggled with the sudden change to life as we knew it.

“I was okay because I was a new mum which was a great distraction to all of the negativity that was going on. And also I was on the comeback anyway from having Nyla in July 2019.

“So the disruption to everyone else meant that everything suddenly became very equal.

“We were all having to self-motivate to get equipment, although I soon learnt a lot of athletes were actually gifted their gym equipment.

“But the motivation to train and uncertainty of competitions were the same for everyone.

“So I enjoyed the level playing field.

“I am good at being self motivated, so I didn’t struggle fortunately.

“I bought my gym equipment early and already had a few bits mainly because of my job as a PT and my own general interest in everything fitness.”

It’s not just the fitness people struggle with, it’s the mental health element of not being able to do the thing they have trained most of their lives for.

But Lally, who is a four-time British and England champion, said: “Mentally, as I said, it wasn’t hard for me. I had Nyla keeping me busy and my boyfriend being a stay-at-home dad to allow me to train. I had no reason not to be grateful for the position I had landed in.

“We did lots of family walks and I bought toys for her to play with in the house. I was still able to train on a rugby field and use my garage gym.

“I was one of the lucky ones.”

During lockdown Lally, who holds the English record with a throw of 65.10m, used her garage as a training space and produced videos on training and discus advice.

She said: “I posted the videos because I spoke to some young athletes about their technique and there was a recurring theme.

“So I decided to try to use some of my free time to help.”

Lally, who also holds the indoor discus throw record, is a great role model for any athlete and says people should focus on how things are now – and not compare what the landscape used to be like.

And when people return to competitive action, they should be prepared for how different it might be.

She said: “I think for advice, nothing lasts forever.

“Everything has an end so it’s worth staying focused on your goals and know at some point, you will need to be ready to go again.

“Competitions will come back in some capacity.

“There is no point comparing how things used to be, we have to adapt to how things are now.

“I am a great believer in not dwelling on things you can’t control.

“Adapt and overcome is the best bit of advice I can give.

“I think for older athletes who have a bit more life experience, it is important to show young athletes this change is not the end of the world. It’s change for everyone on the planet.”

Lally is now training to compete in the Australian summer but her target is Tokyo.

“I am going to compete during this Australian summer – not sure when or where yet but I will,” said Lally.

“And the aim is definitely to make the Tokyo Olympics next year.

“I’m not sure if it’ll be a regular Games, I think there is too much that we still don’t know about the virus and there are still too many countries that have new infections and deaths daily to predict what will happen.

“But I’m sure the IOC will do their best to put on a Games, even if it is behind closed doors. We shall see.”