Floating through the Tokyo air performing a front bike flip, Logan Martin was on the highest of highs. Now the Olympic gold medallist is utterly grounded.
"I came in here just sort of wanting to relax a little bit, not put any pressure on myself, give my body a bit of a break and my mind a bit of a break," Martin said, before the boredom set in.
Hundreds of Australian athletes and officials are in quarantine. Some are in city hotels while others, like Martin, are at the federal government's Howard Springs quarantine facility just outside Darwin.
The BMX team was initially in a separate section of the compound and unable to see the other athletes, but were moved to where they could talk to each other between balconies.
"We were stoked on that," Martin said.
Martin bought a 1,500-piece jiqsaw puzzle before leaving Tokyo, a trick he learned from his previous quarantine experience.
"I'm maybe 15 per cent done so I haven't made too much progress [but] I've got five days to finish it, so we'll see how we go."
Other athletes have been uploading social media posts of their quarantine life — which includes daily temperature checks for COVID-19 and food deliveries.
Discus thrower Matt Denny has had time to create a video that looks at the lighter side of just missing out on winning a medal.
'Quaranteam' beats the blues
The Australian Olympic Committee has a daily program offering online events from morning yoga to trivia nights and DJ sets, to help the athletes through the quarantine period.
Many in the team have come from the extreme emotional highs and lows of the two-week Olympic Games campaign to finding themselves cooped up, often alone and having to occupy themselves for hours on end.
The AOC's Olympian services manager, Daniel Kowalski, said the number one priority was the safety and wellbeing of the team
"This is just as important while they are in quarantine," Kowalski said.
Nothing like previous Olympic returns
Deputy Chef de Mission and former medal-winning kayaker Ken Wallace said returning to Australia under pandemic restrictions was a "massive contrast" to homecoming arrangements for previous Olympic campaigns.
"In the last three games, I flew in on the charter flight and the Prime Minister was there and everyone's at the hangar just wanting to see you," Wallace said.
"But at the same time they also say, 'You know what, we got to live out our dream and if this is what it takes, then that's fine with me because we're actually able to compete at an Olympic Games'."
