'Heartbroken' Australian athletes face up to Olympic reality

Swimming - 18th FINA World Swimming Championships - Women's 50m Freestyle Semifinals - Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center, Gwangju, South Korea - July 27, 2019. Cate Campbell of Australia after the race [REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth]

Australian athletes were feeling a mixture of regret and relief on Tuesday following their national Olympic committee’s decision to pull out of the 2020 Tokyo Games due to the coronavirus, while the country’s top soccer competition also fell victim to the outbreak.

The Australian Olympic Committee said on Monday that the coronavirus pandemic had made it untenable to assemble a team for the 2020 Games.