PLAYER POWER
PLAYER POWER was the clear winner as Tokyo chiefs bowed to pressure from athletes and finally postponed both the Olympics and Paralympics.
Forty-eight hours after giving themselves another month to decide the fate of this summer’s Games in the face of a coronavirus pandemic, organisers pulled the plug.
The moment officially arrived when Shinzo Abe, Japan’s Prime Minister, proposed the postponement to Thomas Bach and the president of the International Olympic Committee agreed.
That is understood to have triggered a clause in the agreement to stage the Games which frees both parties from liability for failing to fulfil their obligations under the contract. But it was sportsmen and women the world over rising up to deliver a damning chorus of disapproval over the lingering possibility of the Games going ahead that forced the speedy resolution.
Katarina JohnsonThompson, as befits her world champion status, led the way a week ago when calling out conflicting advice given by the governments.
Dina Asher-Smith, Britain’s other track and field global gold medalist, weighed in by branding the IOC “irresponsible” for putting off a decision and forcing athletes to
IOC and risk their health and safety by continuing to train during a time of lockdown.
The pair’s uncompromising tone was then picked up by governing bodies and national federations who, one by one, rescheduled “to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021”.
The decision was made in order to “safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games the right reasons and the safety of everyone. Waited eight years for this, what’s another one in the grand scheme of things?”
Two-time Olympic champion triathlete Alistair Brownlee agreed with cyclist Mark Cavendish’s assertion that it was the “right call”.
Brownlee said: “That is both for the message it sends to people around the world battling with the virus and for the clarity it gives to athletes attempting to prepare”.
But away from the words of relief expressed by individuals now able to focus on staying healthy rather than staying ahead of the rest was scathing criticism of Bach by Olympic cycling champ Callum Skinner.
“The right decision has been made,” tweeted Skinner, who fronts competitor-led movement Global Athlete.
“Tokyo 2021 presents an amazing opportunity to host a full Games celebrating the world hopefully entering the “post-pandemic” phase.
“Questions have to be asked of Thomas Bach’s ‘full-steam ahead’ policy. This saga has endangered athletes, public health and damaged the Olympic movement. What’s more he wanted this limbo to continue for four weeks
“Those who understand Olympic politics would expect nothing less from Bach, now the world has become aware of his and the organisation’s incompetence.”
Attention now switches to other sporting events yet to grasp the nettle in these unprecedented times.
To Wimbledon and the Tour De France, the European Athletics Championships and summer rugby tours. One sporting headache has been addressed, but there’s a few more where that came from.