BEAUDESERT’S famous sporting son, Jason Day, will leave behind his regret from eight years ago when he turned down his chance to represent Australia at the Olympics when he tees off in the green and gold at the Paris Games.
Day was ranked number one in 2016 when he decided not to play at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, saying he was concerned about going to Brazil while the mosquito-borne Zika virus was spreading.
At the time Day said his reason for not playing was about the possible transmission of the virus and the potential risks that it might present to his wife’s future pregnancies.
Speaking to Associated Press recently he said, “I think selfishly I made a decision on my schedule and how I was feeling at the time, I was emotionally and physically burned out.”
“There was a lot on my plate. I was number one in the world. You learn from previous mistakes … but looking back on it, I should have gone. A lot of people would kill for a chance to represent their country.”
Day said his enduring Olympic memories were of the strong swim teams from Australia when he was still at school in Beaudesert and track star Cathy Freeman’s gold medal in the 400 metres race at the Sydney Games in 2000.
“As a kid growing up, I never thought of the Olympics because golf only became a sport recently,” Day said.
“But at the start of the year it was on my list to represent Australia, so it’s nice to accomplish that.”
Although golf featured in a few Olympics in the early 20th century – including at Paris in the second version of the Games in 1900 – it returned more than a 100 years later at Rio.
The Australian Olympic Committee announced Min Woo Lee will join Day on the men’s team and his sister Minjee Lee and Hannah Green will make up the women’s team.
The four players all qualified by virtue of their International Golf Federation Olympic rankings.
This year’s Olympic tournament will be played at Le Golf National at Guyancourt near Paris. The men compete from August 1-4 and the women from August 7-10.
