Calls to cancel the Tokyo Olympic Games, which are set to start on July 24, are growing by the day with two more governing bodies voicing their concerns. Both UK Athletics, which is in charge of track and field for Great Britain, and USA Swimming have added their weight to calls to change the calendar because of the coronavirus pandemic. While a growing number of high profile sporting events have been cancelled, suspended or postponed in recent weeks, including Uefa Euro 2020 and this summer’s Copa America football tournaments, the official line from Olympics organisers is that the Games are going ahead as planned and it is too soon to decide otherwise. This was reiterated on Friday by the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee. “The decision about the games doesn’t lie directly with us,” USOPC head Susanne Lyons told the media. “It lies with the World Health Organisation, the Japanese government and the IOC.”
This prompted US Swimming head Tim Hinchey to write to the USOPC. “Everyone has experienced unimaginable disruptions, mere months before the Olympic Games, which calls into question the authenticity of a level playing field for all,” he wrote.
Our athletes are under tremendous pressure, stress and anxiety, and their mental health and wellness should be among the highest priorities. We urge the USOPC, as a leader within the Olympic Movement, to use its voice and speak up for the athletes.”
Meanwhile, Nic Coward, the head of UK Athletics, called for the Games to be postponed in an interview with The Guardian. “Athletes and para-athletes have been preparing for the whole of their sporting lives to get themselves in the best possible shape for a day in July or August for the greatest test,” Coward said.
But with facilities closing down, their ability to get themselves in the best possible shape is compromised at best. That is creating intense pressure. And I think that intense pressure is what people have to understand is there and release it.
The priority now is the health and welfare of individuals and to take the stress out of the system,” he added. “And that comes by telling the athletes it is not going to take place when they were told – and then for the authorities to take time in deciding when it should be staged in an orderly fashion.” World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe, who was in charge of the London 2012 Olympics, admitted this week that a change to the schedule could happen.
“I think the position that sport has taken, and it was certainly the temperature of the room in the conversation I had the other day with the IOC and our other federations, is that nobody is saying we will be going to the Games come what may,” Coe said. Athletes have pointed out that their preparations have been severely impacted as the world battles the spread of the virus. Earlier in the week Kyodo News published a public-opinion poll from Japan that said 70 per cent of respondents could not see a way for the Games to go ahead as planned.