If I was told I’d DEFINITELY get coronavirus I’d still jump at the chance to compete in the Olympics ...so many athletes would

AS coronavirus continues to spread around the world, many are wondering whether the Tokyo Olympics should be cancelled or postponed.

It may seem a no-brainer. But let me tell you something as a former Olympian (above).

Even if I was told there was a 100 per cent chance I would contract the virus, I would still want to go and compete in Japan this summer.

That may seem a ridiculous thing to say when the world is facing a global health crisis.

But I bet there are thousands of athletes preparing for the biggest moment of their sporting careers who think exactly the same.

I’ve played in multiple World Cups, won medals at the Commonwealth Games, won the European Championships and represented my country more than 125 times.

But I would have given up every cap, every medal, every moment of time on a hockey pitch for one single solitary match at the Olympics.

The idea that a virus could take away the moment my life had been dedicated to would have broken me.

I would have felt like my life from the age of 16 to 27 had been stolen away and a complete waste.

My sacrifice to reach the 2016 Games in Rio (above, Sam, second right, and the team celebrating gold there) consumed 11 years of my life. You miss family events like weddings, birthdays and even funerals. You strain relationships. You hamper your education and future career prospects.

You trade them for an endless cycle of working your body to breaking point, squeezing out every ounce of blood, sweat and tears – all in a high-risk gamble to achieve your sporting dream.

I’m talking here from the perspective of a competitor. None of those due to compete in Tokyo will give up their Olympic dreams without a fight.

But there would have to be some conditions. I would never be prepared to risk spreading the virus to anyone else who wasn’t willing to take the same risk as me.

That would therefore mean a closed-door Olympics with no spectators, with specialist transport to venues and a military-style athletes village.

However, I would be prepared to isolate myself in the athletes village until I had passed the coronavirus test and shown no symptoms for the recommended isolation period or longer. I would be willing to sign a contract to that effect.

Cancelling the Olympics may seem like a no-brainer to some, but for most of the athletes it is unthinkable.