The following is from Ian Moir, Executive Director, Australian Weightlifting Federation.

Received at 11:15am, 04 August 2021

To make sense of what you are about to read, please refer to the email from Ian Moir on Monday 02 August in which he states:

"Please note that online participation is not an option of choice for entrants and is only permitted for those who are affected by COVID-related lockdowns and/or travel restrictions, including quarantine requirements. All entrants who are not prevented by government regulations from attending in person must compete at the competition venue in Cairns".

Ian Moir clarifies: "Travel Restrictions"

Travel restrictions include quarantine or self-isolation requirements on arrival in Cairns, or on return home. The unavailability or cancellation of flights will also be considered as travel restrictions.

Ian Moir further states in an email received by Leo Isaac today in response to a direct request:

Many Masters lifters have expressed a strong desire to go to Cairns and lift in a ‘real’ competition, and we (AWF) want to do everything possible to make that happen. We do understand that circumstances vary from state to state, city to city, and even suburb to suburb. The best that we can do right now is to provide the possibility for online participation if that’s the only means for someone to compete, but ultimately people have to consider their own circumstances and make what they believe to be the best decision for themselves at this time.

I’m taking advice from the AWF Masters Committee on this and I’ll be proposing that whatever restrictions apply two weeks before the competition date be the initial measure of who can and can’t attend in person. Any relaxing of restrictions after that won’t mean that someone who couldn’t travel before would suddenly be required to turn up in person. If anyone is affected by new restrictions imposed after that date, they’ll also be able to exercise the online option. We should be able to switch someone from in-person to online fairly quickly.