Victorian Olympic swimming hopefuls may miss their ‘big chance’ because of border rules

UPDATE: At 11.50am Jackson Car was granted a cross border permit to attend the Olympic trials. It’s not clear if other affected swimmers have also had their permits granted.

Victorian Olympic hopefuls fear their dreams may have been crushed by border restrictions.

Many swimmers who qualified for the Olympic trials in South Australia, which begin on June 12, are stuck in Victoria and unable to cross the border.

Tim Car says his 20-year-old son, Jackson, who is hoping to swim butterfly in the Olympics, is one of those affected.

“There was a bit of misinformation around there and the facts and figures weren’t communicated to the second tier swimmers well enough by the sporting body,” he told Neil Mitchell.

“On Wednesday 26th there was a big mass exodus of these top tier swimmers who are all funded in the Swimming Australia and Swimming Victoria programs.

“On Thursday, the second tier swimmers were sent a communication … quoting ‘South Australian borders have been shut’ and we had to jump through a number of rings and hoops to try and get into the state because we missed an opportunity that we were never given.

“It’s been about 18 years in the making to get up to this point.”

Jackson Car submitted an application to South Australian police for permission to travel for the trials.

He was granted that permission on Monday night, and received a cross-border permit on Tuesday, but he’ll still be disadvantaged heading to the trials .

“That means the athletes … aren’t going to have the opportunity to train in the pool in the lead up,” the athlete’s father said.

Jackson Car says the Tokyo Olympics are his “big chance”.

“It is quite disappointing because this year has just been all guns blazing, training non-stop just to be able to do this,” he said.

“2024 would be a bit of a long shot for me.”

Press PLAY below to hear more from Jackson Car and his father Tim