Napat Wesshasartar
Training at home: Thai Athlete’s Life Under Quarantine
On
March 6, 2020, the first COVID-19 super-spreader emerged in the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium
in central Bangkok. It resulted in approximately 143 cases of viral infections.
The Thai government declared a state of emergency, closing all gyms and sports
arenas indefinitely and postponing all sporting events. As a result, athletes ranging
from amateurs to world-class Olympians have been forced to train in their
personal spaces under mandatory stay-at-home orders.
Ordinary
bottles of water transformed into brand-new dumbbells. A standard pillow became
a fencing target. A reservoir by the farm stood in for the perfect twenty-five-meter
Olympic-standard swimming pool. Improvisation was key to how serious athletes were
able to maintain their focused training regimes.
Fans around the globe had been anticipating the 2020
Summer Olympics, which were postponed. At the same time, the entire way that
people work out has changed. The athletic industry is adapting and reinventing new
ways of helping people to stay fit and maintain their goals.
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