Hong Kong triathlon boss blames Oscar Coggins’ struggles on pandemic, ‘partly down to me’
- Andrew Wright believes star athlete Coggins’ recent poor form stems from pandemic, saying ‘the amount of quarantine was borderline inhumane’
- Team investigating effects of Covid-19 vaccine on the 24-year-old with blood tests – ‘in the past two years when he got sick, it really whacked him’
Head coach Andrew Wright put star triathlete Oscar Coggins’ recent poor form down to two years of struggles during the pandemic – and has shouldered responsibility for the 24-year-old’s plight at this year’s Asian Games.
Coggins withdrew following the swimming leg of the individual event in Hangzhou, with Wright subsequently declaring he was “not in a good place right now, physically or mentally”.
Hong Kong’s best Olympic triathlon performer, after finishing 33rd in Tokyo, in 2021, Coggins has resumed training, with a view to being fit for the start of next season, but Wright said he would resist raising the subject of potential Olympic qualification with him.
Coggins suffered with illness at last year’s Asia Championships, and was again under the weather before September’s Asiad.
Wright said those setbacks were being investigated, and Asian Games preparations revisited, after Coggins was among the athletes at training camps in Spain and Thailand.
“I think Oscar’s issues stemmed from driving himself so hard during the pandemic,” Wright said.
“Those two years were awful. Trying to put in training hours was so difficult, and the amount of quarantine we did was scary: borderline inhumane.
“He was bound to hit a wall, and I blame myself to an extent, because I was still pushing.
“It was great the athletes could use the Hong Kong Sports Institute, but they were living there and doing nothing but training. It was inevitable that would have an impact.
“Oscar did not see his family for three years, they are back in England. Everything adds up.
“And, we do not know if it is connected to the Covid vaccine, but over the past two years, when he got sick, it really whacked him. There is no explanation, we are doing everything to investigate, rounds of blood tests, and the institute is being very supportive.”
Wright said he had reviewed Hong Kong’s Asian Games performance, which “was not as good as I expected”. Jason Ng Tai-long finished fifth in the men’s individual race, and in the women’s individual event, Bailee Brown placed sixth.
Wright needed to shuffle his pack for the mixed relay, with Hilda Choi Yan-yin sustaining a serious finger injury on the eve of the Games, and Coggins unavailable. The city’s quartet nevertheless managed a bronze medal.
“We push athletes to extreme levels, within reason, and it is a very fine line between peak performance and breaking down,” said Wright, who revealed Choi was back training following successful surgery.
“In Hong Kong, if that happens, we do not have replacements. The main thing we learned was about the pressure the athletes feel, even months before the Games. We need strategies to alleviate that.
“And we have to individualise preparation. I made the call that we were a squad and staying together, and it was camp after camp.
“What Oscar was going through, perhaps we could have salvaged the situation if he stayed in Hong Kong. He wanted to do that … next time, we could split things up.”
Coggins, who has worked with Wright since he was 13, began gym work last week.
“I was in there with him, and we have been for a couple of hikes,” Wright said. “When a person is relaxed, you learn most about them.
“He will be over-analysing, and distraught about the Asian Games. With his ability, he would have been guaranteed a medal
“Talking to him about the Olympics would be no help. And if I looked closely at what he needs to qualify, I would push him too quickly.
“If he performs well in two key races next year, and his competitors do not, he has an outside chance, but that is all it is.”
