Bogut says Olympics should be called off
JOCELYN AIRTH
ANDREW Bogut has ruled himself out of competing for the Boomers in Tokyo and believes the 2020 Olympic Games should not go ahead given the current state of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Speaking from behind a 1.5m buffer zone, the Sydney Kings star told reporters yesterday that he is putting his family first and has no intention to travel overseas until the coronavirus outbreak is under control.
“To go over there and go through airports and all that kind of stuff right now, I have no interest in doing it,” Bogut said. “It isn’t a case of me getting sick, I think we’re stubborn, athletes – we’ll fight it off, we have that mentality. It’s family.”
As the effects of the coronavirus outbreak continues to severely impact on sports around the world Bogut says he can’t see Tokyo 2020 going ahead despite the IOC remaining defiantly optimistic about holding the Games.
“We know the IOC loves money and they’re not going to try to lose any. We know Japan’s built some world class facilities and want to recoup their investment,” Bogut said.
“But what’s going on in the rest of the world, you can’t see it going ahead, if they do, maybe they postpone it.”
Bogut also continued his criticism of the NBL for its “retroactive” management of the Championship finals series between the Kings and Perth Wildcats during the pandemic.
The NBL championship series was halted on Tuesday when the Kings informed the league they were no longer comfortable participating in the series because of the threat posed by coronavirus, especially regarding their import players.
Perth, who led the best-offive games series 2-1 were subsequently awarded the title on Thursday in extraordinary circumstances.
Bogut has no issue with the eventual decision but disappointed by the league’s inaction and says the players were “used like pawns”.
“The retroactive aspect of this (from the NBL) has been 10 out of 10. The proactive was barely one (out of 10), the reactive stuff is probably about five.” The veteran big man said the NBL should have reached out to Sydney and Perth after COVID-19 shut down the NBA and Grand Prix.
Swimming Australia has urged the International Olympic Committee to consider whether all athletes from around the world are being given a fair chance to properly prepare before deciding whether to proceed with this year’s Tokyo Olympics.
Hundreds of Olympic hopefuls from around the world have been prevented from training because their countries have been in lockdown because of COVID-19, prompting calls for the Games to be postponed.
“(It’s) obviously a massive disadvantage around the world now for athletes who are not in a position, and whole countries not in a position, anymore to prepare themselves,” SA’s head coach Jacco Verhaeren said yesterday.