Olympic medal prospect James Roberts has been forced from his accommodation at the AIS to protect him from a whooping cough outbreak at the Canberra campus, but he and the AIS swim squad will continue training at the Institute.
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There are six Olympic swimmers in the AIS squad, headlined by Roberts and five-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Alicia Coutts, but Roberts is the only one who lives at the AIS campus.
Considered the main rival to 100-metre freestyle sprint king James Magnussen, Roberts was yesterday temporarily relocated to a Belconnen unit owned by Swimming Australia as a precautionary measure.
But AIS swim coach John Fowlie said his squad would continue to train as usual at the AIS pool, denying the outbreak would have any negative effect on his team's Olympic preparations.
Swimming Australia yesterday cancelled an Olympic training meet scheduled for the AIS this weekend after two Australian women's water polo players - Melissa Rippon and Nicola Zagame - were diagnosed with whooping cough during a training camp at the AIS.
Fowlie is confident his swimmers will not be exposed to the illness because they train in a separate high-performance pool to the one that has been used by water polo.
''It's been set up as a high-performance centre so the only people who train in our pool are the AIS [swim] team,'' Fowlie said.
''We've got 15 people in that pool and besides that it's a closed, secure facility without any public access to it. We've been in contact with our doctors and been advised by them.
''We're happy and confident that we're taking all the necessary precautions.''
Given whooping cough can have a three-week incubation period before symptoms present, Fowlie said his squad would continue to consult with AIS and Olympic medical staff.
''Our doctors are sitting down with the Olympic team doctors and they'll advise us exactly on what further precautions we need to take. If that's immunisation or testing, we'll get all that done in the next 24 hours,'' Fowlie said.
''We're really happy that we've got the best sports doctors in Australia advising us on what we need to do.''
AIS swimmers bound for the London Olympics include Roberts, Coutts, Belinda Hocking, Tommaso D'Orsogna, Angie Bainbridge and Sally Foster.
Fowlie said he understood Swimming Australia's decision to cancel this weekend's meet in Canberra, but it won't stop him putting his own squad through a series of time trials at the AIS pool.
Fowlie said his squad had less than three weeks of hard training left before they began to taper for London.
''This is what getting ready for an Olympics is all about,'' he said. ''There's always going to be little things that come up. It's about keeping things moving forward, staying calm and going about your business. We're not pushing to make huge gains in the last two weeks - 99 per cent of the work's been done now, we're just trying not to mess it up. That means taking whatever precautions we can.''