FLAME CAN’T BURN IN THIS VACUUM
Global landscape simply too rocky for Games to go ahead this summer
THE Olympic torch should have been passed, symbolically, to the Tokyo 2020 organising committee in Athens yesterday.
Travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus meant none of the Japanese was able to be present at the historic Panathenaic Stadium.
The 100 Japanese children who were supposed to dance there had to cancel and there was no sign either of the 40 Greek ‘priestesses’. Their appearance was axed as it would have qualified as a mass gathering.
Instead, in a dystopian ceremony, watched by a handful of dignitaries sat two metres apart to avoid contagion, the wind buffeted flame was handed over to a long retired Japanese swimmer who happened to be working in Athens for UNESCO.
The flame, whose relay journey from Ancient Olympia had been scrapped on public health grounds, was brought into the stadium by gymnast Elefteris Petrounias and handed to pole vaulter Katerina Stefanidi who paraded it around the banks of empty seats.
It should have been passed to Japanese athletes Tadahiro Nomura and Saori Yoshida but they were 6,000 miles away in Tokyo and only able to join in by video link. So Naoko Imoto, who came fourth in the 4x200m freestyle relay in Atlanta, picked it up on behalf of the Olympic hosts.
The only surprise, in the circumstances, was that she was not wearing surgical gloves to receive it.
International Olympic Committee member Spyros Capralos talked defiantly of the flame extinguishing a “vicious enemy” and Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori spoke – from Japan – of the Games shaking off “the dark clouds hanging over the Earth”.
But if there were enough clues for Japan and the IOC as to what to do with the Olympics at yesterday’s ceremony then neither was paying attention. Both need to remove the blindfold and take a good look around. The global landscape is too rocky for the Games to be staged this summer. Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, says he wants his country to host the complete Games, an Olympics that celebrates humanity’s victory over the virus. That is a laudable aim and one that can be delivered – just not in four months’ time.
Let us take the Japanese at their word and accept they will be through the storm by then. That is a leap for many inside the country who are sceptical of the low reported numbers but still, let’s run with it.
The reality is that it is highly unlikely that all of the 200+ competing nations will be in the clear also by July. The threat of a positive test for the virus over the Games
would hang heavier than that of a positive doping test. Self-isolation could lay low whole teams.
Some might not even make it to Tokyo. The Olympics should be about the best gathering to compete on a level playing field. If some athletes from countries still fighting the virus are absent, that would take us back to the tarnished boycott years of 1980 and 1984.
The athletes, with their training disrupted and qualifying in chaos, are beginning to find their voice. Britain’s Katarina JohnsonThompson and Martin Rooney have expressed disquiet at the situation. They need leadership – not empty rhetoric.
For Japan, the Olympics is a £20billion investment and a question of honour. If they fail to host when they said they would it would represent a loss of money and face.
But, according to a GlobalWebIndex survey a majority of Japanese – perhaps mindful of what half a million fans might bring in with them – favour postponement.
It would be better to head for Tokyo in 2021. An Olympics this summer would be joyous but the timeline is too tight.
GOLF
THE OPEN is under threat after the R&A organisers acknowledged they are considering all available options for the sport’s oldest Major championship because of the coronavirus crisis.
The event, to be held at Royal St George’s in Kent and due to start on July 16, could be called off with the R&A admitting yesterday that they are “contingency planning”.
“Our absolute priority is to ensure the safety of players, fans, officials, staff and all involved in our championships and that will be at the forefront of our thinking as we monitor developments,” said chief executive Martin Slumbers.
CRICKET
ENGLISH cricket chiefs are set to unveil a plan of action to rescue the summer and keep counties above water until they can reopen their gates.
Following a seven-hour conference call between the ECB’s executive team and advisers yesterday, they will take their proposed plan for a delayed season to the board for ratification today.
“We recognise that this is a rapidly changing situation and we will keep everyone informed of any changes to our plans.
“These are difficult times but we are bearing in mind our responsibility for what is right for golf and most importantly for society.”
The status of the Women’s British Open at Royal Troon is also being monitored, although that tournament does not start until August 20.
Two more men’s European Tour events have been called off – The Made in Denmark and the GolfSixes in Portugal. Both were scheduled to be held in May.
NEIL SQUIRES
RUGBY UNION
THE Guinness PRO14 season has been suspended indefinitely and the proposed final in Cardiff – scheduled for June 20 – cancelled. No date has been set for the tournament to resume.
DARTS
THE Players Championship doubleheaders, European Tour Qualifiers and the PDC Unicorn Challenge Tour have all been postponed.