Butterfly world champion Kapas tested positive for coronavirus
After new dates were announced for the Tokyo Olympics, swimming’s governing body is going back to the drawing board to figure out when to hold its next world championships.
The biannual aquatics event was scheduled for Fukuoka, Japan, from July 16-Aug. 1, 2021. But on Monday, the Tokyo Games were pushed back a full year by the coronavirus pandemic and moved to the same period -- July 23-Aug. 8, 2021.
That likely leaves FINA, swimming’s governing body, with two options for its biggest event: A move to the end of September and the beginning of October 2021; or May-june 2022.
Postponing for a full year would be complicated due to the already full schedule of aquatics events in July and August, 2022, which includes the Commonwealth Games, European swimming and water polo championships and the Pan Pacific swimming championships; plus the Asian Games in September. Holding worlds before the games is undesirable because it would conflict with national Olympic trials around the globe.
“I need to see the information from Fukuoka,
from the partners, from television, from everybody. And then we can have a conclusion,” FINA executive director Cornel Marculescu said.
While mar cu les cu was adam ant last week against a move to 2022, that now seems like a possibility.
“For that reason I don’t want to have any opinion, because it doesn’t reflect the reality,” Marculescu said when asked about his previous comments.
World Athletics has already announced that its world championships in Eugene, Oregon, will be pushed back to 2022 but has not selected dates.
Marculescu said FINA “probably needs another two weeks” before making its decision.
Meanwhile, butterfly world champion Boglarka Kapas is among nine swimmers on the Hungarian national team to have tested positive for coronavirus, the country’s swimming association said in a statement late on Tuesday.
Dominik Kozma, who won a bronze in the 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2017 worlds, has also tested positive for the fast-spreading virus that has brought global sport to a virtual standstill and led to the one-year postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“We tested everyone on the national swim team roster, as well as the staff working with the team, trainers, masseurs,” the Hungarian Swimming Association said in a statement.
“Results keep coming in and as of Tuesday night nine were positive.”
Olympic hopefuls had been attending training camps in warm climates over the past few months. The association said everyone was quarantined upon their return to Hungary and did not take part in any joint training sessions.
“I feel fine,” the 26-year-old Kapas, who won the 200m butterfly world title in 2019, said in a video posted on Instagram.