Has decision to postpone been made?
IOC’s Pound says the Tokyo Games will be moved to 2021, but an Olympic executive says no ruling has been made
Focus on whether the Tokyo Games will be held this summer heightened Monday with a long-time International Olympic Committee member saying he believed the decision to postpone them had already been made in wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
But an IOC vice president, responding to comments from Dick Pound of Montreal, insisted no decision has been made on whether to move the Tokyo
Olympics and Paralympics. The dates are July 24-Aug. 9 for the Olympics and Aug. 25Sept. 6 for the Paralympics. “The IOC did not make that decision,”
Anita DeFrantz, an IOC vice president from Santa Monica, told this news organization
Monday. “He’s either right or he’s wrong. I don’t have that ability to tell the future. I think most people would say it doesn’t look good.”
Pound, a Canadian who helped launch the World Anti-Doping Agency, said in an interview from Montreal that he concluded the decision already has been made based on the IOC’s statements Sunday saying it would announce its intent within four weeks.
“If you are accustomed to IOC speak, what this did was put the P word — postponement — on the table,” Pound said. “That is clearly what they decided to do.”
Pound said the postponement “is the only other logical possibility” as national Olympic committees in Australia and Canada said they do not want to send their athletes to Tokyo this summer.
The Tokyo Olympics are the biggest event in question for the summer. The NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball have put their seasons on hold but could return by summer if global health experts consider it safe for people to gather again. The latest figures show that almost 340,000 people worldwide have contracted the virus with more than 14,000 deaths.
“Look at the curve on new cases,” Pound said of
fast-spreading COVID-19. “We’re not going to get out of that mess in 2020.”
The IOC announced Sunday that it would spend the next four weeks figuring out the best option on how to continue. Some in the Olympic community complained the leadership was not moving quickly enough and leaving athletes with too much uncertainty.
Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organization’s emergencies program, told reporters in Geneva that he expected a decision soon to postpone the Olympics for the first time in its 124-year modern history.
“We have every confidence that the Japanese government and the IOC will not proceed with any Games should they be dangerous to athletes or spectators,” Ryan said.
DeFrantz said it was difficult to decide within a day how to proceed.
“Therein lies our challenge,” she said. “We literally don’t know what tomorrow will bring.”
DeFrantz added that she would not be surprised if the IOC’s executive board meets soon in the aftermath of Pound’s comments, first reported by USA Today.
“We want to be clear and not confuse people,” she said.
Pound said in an interview that the IOC’s reason to delay making a public announcement is because of the complex nature of pushing the Summer Olympics to 2021. IOC leaders also said that canceling the Games is not an option.
“Four weeks will be a miracle if they can get it all done,” he said. “But at least they will be in a position with what the general profile of the thing will look like. There are so many unanswered questions. How do you get into facilities? What will be available?”
DeFrantz said it essential that the IOC is careful in making the decision.
“We have to remember we are not the center of the earth,” she said of Americans. “We too often think what is happening to us is happening everywhere else in the world and it’s not. Some parts of the world are ahead and others are behind, they haven’t even had it yet. We just don’t know what next week will bring.”
DeFrantz, an Olympic rower who led the fight to try to allow U.S. athletes to compete in the boycotted Moscow Games in 1980, said her primary concern is for those preparing for the Tokyo Games.
“The Games will happen,” DeFrantz said. “I know where but maybe not when.” OLYMPIC SURVEY >> Nearly seven in 10 U.S. Olympic hopefuls say they don’t think the Tokyo Games will be fair if they are held in July, prompting leaders of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to conclude “it’s more clear than ever that the path toward postponement is the most promising.”
The USOPC sent a survey over the weekend to more than 4,000 athletes for details on how the coronavirus pandemic has influenced their training and their feelings about the upcoming games; they received responses from 1,780.
Sixty-nine percent said they would feel comfortable competing in July if the World Health Organization — one of the groups consulting with the IOC — deemed it safe. But virtually that same number — 68% — said they didn’t think the Olympics would be fair under those circumstances.
The best explanation for that has been the massive disruption in training schedules, as athletes prepare for qualifying events this spring and summer.
With city and state governments closing gyms and asking people to stay in their homes, fewer than one in 10 of the athletes said they can continue to train without any impact. And 65% said that continuing to train and prepare will put their health at risk.