US joins calls for Olympics to be halted

Delay appears inevitable as Americans add pressure Lord Coe admits decision to postpone may be in days

A postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics now looks inevitable after USA Track and Field, the governing body of American athletics, joined USA Swimming in calling for a delay due to the coronavirus pandemic. Lord Coe, the president of World Athletics, admitted last night that a decision “may become obvious very quickly”.

It was a marked change in tone from Coe, who said earlier this week that there was no need to rush into a “precipitous” decision with four months still to go until the opening ceremony. Momentum behind a delay is building rapidly, however.

Nic Coward, UK Athletics’ chairman, on Friday became the first senior figure in British sports administration to voice his belief that the Olympics should be called off to “remove the stress” from athletes whose lives and training have been affected by the outbreak.

Various national sports federations in Norway, Brazil, France and Spain have gone further, each going public with requests to postpone the Games. But the fact that big American federations are now lobbying the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee to come out in favour of a postponement is of most significance.

The USOPC is by far the most influential in the world and if it requests a postponement it is difficult to see how the International Olympic Committee could do anything but acquiesce.

The American market accounts for a huge chunk of the IOC’s revenues. Of the $5billion the IOC brought in during the most recent four-year Olympic cycle, nearly three-quarters came from broadcast rights. NBC alone contributed about half of that.

This summer’s Games are scheduled to run from July 24 until Aug 9, with Thomas Bach, the IOC president, insisting this week that it is still far too early to make a call. Bach instead called on athletes to prepare as well as they could under the circumstances.

The IOC’s position has, however, prompted a backlash from athletes. Lolo Jones, the American hurdler-turned-bobsledder, and two-time Olympic decathlon champion Ashton Eaton, publicly backed a postponement, with many of them adopting a #Tokyo2021 hashtag on social media.

“I am glad USATF spoke up,” Jones wrote of its call. “IOC encouraged all athletes to continue to prepare for the Olympics. Telling athletes to carry on as normal amid this public health crisis is irresponsible and demeaning.

“This international emergency is unprecedented, and the IOC must acknowledge that sport takes a back seat to public health.”

Eaton tweeted: “#Tokyo2021. Nothing else makes sense. Anything else is socially irresponsible. How can the IOC and Japanese NOC in good conscience hold one of the world’s largest and most important gatherings and risk facilitating the acceleration of global contagion and having the worst event in history?”

British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith posted a link to a survey asking whether athletes were for or against the Games going ahead as scheduled.

“A decision on the Olympic Games may become very obvious very quickly in the coming days and weeks,” Lord Coe admitted last night. “As I said last week, I don’t think we should have the Olympic Games at all costs, certainly not at the cost of athlete safety. The issue of competition fairness is paramount. If we lose the level playing field, then we lose the integrity of the competition. Nobody wants this.”

The British Olympic Association declined to comment last night, but British discus thrower Jade Lally said the IOC was being “insensitive” by insisting the Games go ahead as planned.