It’s official: the Tokyo 2020 Olympics are postponed (not canceled) and will be rescheduled to the summer of 2021 at the very latest. This is the first significant disruption to the Olympics since World War II. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the announcement earlier this week. He said that he and the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach agreed in a phone call regarding growing concerns around the coronavirus pandemic.
Previously, World Athletics president Lord Coe, a double Olympic 1500m champion, had written a letter to Bach calling for this summer’s Olympic Games to be postponed. He wrote that the Olympics in July 2020 would be “neither feasible or desirable” because of COVID-19. The letter was followed by a conference call between the two where Coe added that:
“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. A decision on the Olympic Games must become very obvious very quickly. I believe that time has come and we owe it to our athletes to give them respite where we can.”
In his letter, he listed three main reasons for delaying the Games:
“Competition fairness – Every one of my area presidents believes that we can no longer expect a fair and level playing field in our sport given the number of athletes who are struggling to train in various countries due to measures put in place to reduce the spread of coronavirus.
Risk of injury – If athletes are unable to train properly now, we both know, as we have both been there, they will push themselves even harder closer to an Olympic Games, which will increase the propensity for injury.
The emotional wellbeing of athletes – The uncertainty of the Olympic Games happening in July and the inherent desire and motivation to excel that resides in all our athletes is causing real anguish that we can, collectively, put a stop to.”
Billions of people around the globe have been forced into lockdowns to help curb the spread of COVID-19, which has claimed over 17,000 lives so far.
Abe said:
“Considering the current situation, in regards to the Tokyo Games, as the host nation, in order to ensure that athletes from all over the world are able to compete in their best condition, and also in order to ensure the utmost safety for the spectators, I have asked him to consider postponing the games by about a year. Japan will fulfill its responsibility as the host nation to prove that humanity has beaten the novel coronavirus.”
The IOC said in a joint statement with the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee:
“The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present.”
The global competition is the largest sporting event yet to be affected by the pandemic. However, the concerns regarding the athletes are understandable. For example, the 31-year-old South African Olympic swimming champion Cameron van der Burgh has been battling the coronavirus for two weeks now. He expressed in a series of tweets that the experience has been a struggle. He noted that he is in the least at-risk demographic but that COVID-19 has been:
“By far the worst virus I have ever endured despite being a healthy individual with strong lungs (no smoking/sport), living a healthy lifestyle and being young.”
He said that athletes would train even if they are sick and that it could prolong the duration of recovery. He said that there were times he could barely even walk. If an athlete competing in the Games has to go through this, it would be a significant disadvantage. Furthermore, lockdowns around the world have made it extremely difficult for athletes to train at all, healthy or not.
