THE World Athletics has called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to postpone this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo because of the coronavirus crisis.
In a letter to IOC President Thomas Bach, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said Tokyo 2020 taking place as planned in July and August is “neither feasible nor desirable” amid growing international concern over the pandemic.
“I write to you to request that the Games be moved,” Coe said in the letter.
Coe cited competition fairness, the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on training and the increased risk of athletes suffering injuries as the three main reasons why the organization believes the Olympics should be postponed.
World Athletics, the first international federation to urge the IOC to move the event, “remains available and ready to help secure a new date for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games,” according to Coe.
The double Olympic 1,500 meters champion said postponing Tokyo 2020 would put an end to the “real anguish” and “uncertainty” being felt by athletes due to the pandemic and its impact on their training and qualification for the Games.
“No one wants to see the Olympic Games postponed but as I have said publicly, we cannot hold the event at all costs, certainly not at the cost of athlete safety, and a decision on the Olympic Games must become very obvious very quickly,” Coe said. “I believe that time has come and we owe it to our athletes to give them respite where we can.”
The significant intervention from a top-tier Olympic sport came prior to an emergency meeting of the IOC Executive Board, where the organization publicly admitted for the first time it was considering postponing Tokyo 2020.
The IOC also said it would make a decision on the Games, set to open on July 24, within the next four weeks and repeated its insistence that a cancellation was not being considered.
Among the options are scaling down the event, holding the Games later this year or postponing until 2021.
Several competitors and National Olympic Committees have called for a postponement because of the impact the outbreak has had on athletes’ training programmes and qualification for Tokyo 2020.
A growing number of countries have imposed nationwide lockdowns, travel restrictions and bans on events. Insidethegames