The opening ceremony of the olympics are just months away and many national committees and athletes are demanding IOC to postpone the tournament in the time of coronavirus outbreak. In this post , lets look who says what about the fate of olympics .
But before that , i must inform you that the final decision rests in the hands of IOC only.
Spain’s Olympic Committee president Alejandro Blanco on 18 march said he would prefer this summer’s Tokyo Olympics to be postponed .“The decision is for the International Olympic Committee [to make] after getting reports from the World Health Organisation and the organising committee,” he said in a statement.“We want the Olympics to take place, but with security. We’re an important country in the world and four months before the games, our athletes can’t arrive in equal conditions.”
USA Sports committee released a statement on 20 march that its main priority is that ” all athletes should put their health and wellness, and the health and wellness of the greater community, above all else at this unprecedented moment” and do not want to take the oppurtunity of nay athlete to participate in Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee said in a joint statement Sunday “While we recognize the inherent complexities around a postponement, nothing is more important than the health and safety of our athletes and the world community”.They further said “This is not solely about athlete health — it is about public health.”
The Australian Olympic Committee after an emergency teleconference on Monday morning unanimously agreed a team could not be assembled for the 2020 Olympics given the current situation at home and abroad.Paralympics Australia also released a statement, noting it “is wholly supportive of a postponement of the Paralympic Games in the best interests of public health, both here and abroad”.“It is hard to see another option,” it said.
The chairman of the British Olympic Association, Hugh Robertson said “We can’t see any way that this can go ahead as things are constituted,” He further said “I expect we will be joining Canada and Australia shortly.”
JOC President Yasuhiro Yamashita told reporters on Monday “From the athletes’ point of view of safety and security, we have to come to a stage where we cannot help but consider things including postponement,”. However, he said too long a delay would be a burden to athletes given the possibility of having to qualify again, for example.
The United States governing bodies of swimming and track — two of the three top-tier Summer Games sports — had called on their national Olympic officials to push for a postponement.
INDIA Stand
“We are expecting the IOC to organize the Olympics during its scheduled dates. We will go by what the IOC decides. If the IOC says the Olympics will go on, we will have to participate.” IOA secretary general Rajeev Mehta told Reuters by phone.
“Olympics is all about having the best of the best competing for the highest prize in sport and in today’s scenario where the world is locked down and the training facilities are all shut, that cannot be a reality,” said Multiple tennis doubles Grand Slam winner Mahesh Bhupathi
India’s chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand on 19march said “I think, in the present scenario, with the health scares and all the travel restrictions and all, it is a tough time and at the moment the whole world is thinking about health and safety for its citizens, so I think given the situation it is better if the Olympics are postponed.”
Star wrestler Bajrang Punia on Monday called for postponement of the Games considering the outbreak of COVID-19 and decisions of multiple nations to pull out from the game saying “Before Olympics we have to fight Coronavirus. If situation does not improve, and continues for 2-3 months, it will be perfectly alright to postpone the Olympics.”
After increase in pressure from athletes, federations and national committees to postpone the Games IOC released the statement saying “The IOC will … start detailed discussions to complete its assessment of the rapid development of the worldwide health situation and its impact on the Olympic Games, including the scenario of postponement.”“The IOC is confident that it will have finalised these discussions within the next four weeks.”
Tokyo Organising Committee released a press release saying “In light of this situation, Tokyo 2020 held an urgent video conference with IOC President Bach last night, during which we agreed to proceed with detailed discussions of different scenarios, including postponement of the Games, in full coordination with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Government of Japan, relevant Japanese authorities, international sport federations and National Olympic Committees.”
TOKYO OLYMPICS 