Only One Quarter Of Aussie Athletes Will March During Rio’s Opening Ceremony, Because This Week Sucked For Them

Of the 421 Aussie Olympians competing in Rio, only 103 will march during tomorrow’s opening ceremony, ABC News reports.

According to Australia’s chef de mission Kitty Chiller, many Australians are sitting out the Parade of Nations at Maracana Stadium because they are either competing the next day, under doctors' orders, or yet to arrive in Brazil (like the 61-member athletics squad).

Given their annoying last couple of weeks, can you blame them for wanting a lie-in?

(If you’re wondering why a walk around a stadium would hurt competing athletes’ chances, note that the AOC expects those in the parade to spend between 90 minutes and three hours on their feet.)

However, sickness won’t keep the women’s polo players (pictured above) from fronting up to Maracana. Despite some members being kept in quarantine from their teammates on account of a nasty virus, they will all march with their fellow Aussies on August 6.

Thankfully, their first match isn’t until next Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Russian Olympic Committee chief Alexander Zhukov has confirmed that 271 of his nation’s athletes have been cleared to participate in Rio.

There had been a question mark hanging over their heads following the reveal of state-sanctioned doping during Russia’s winter games in Sochi.

Though 271 names have been cleared to compete, it’s worth remembering that 387 names were initially submitted. Competitors who were implicated in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s report were eliminated by their respective sports federations.

Russia has taken the biggest hit in track-and-field and weightlifting. However, 29 swimmers have been given the go ahead to represent Russia at Rio.

With events kicking off this weekend, most nations will no doubt be relieved to refocus on sport.

However, those of us following along from home will have to make do with simply the televised footage, as the IOC has “expressly forbidden” press from turning Olympic material into GIFs and memes.

Good luck with that.

Photo: Twitter / AusOlympicTeam.