Kuwait Times

British Olympian attacks IOC chief over Olympics

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LONDON: British track cyclist Callum Skinner has labelled Internatio­nal Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach “arrogant” and “stubborn” over the organisati­on’s approach to the coronaviru­s pandemic. The IOC, which has faced strong pressure to postpone the Tokyo Games, scheduled to start on July 24, announced on Sunday delaying the event was one of its options. Bach said a decision on when the Olympics would take place would be made “within the next four weeks”.

Canada has pulled out of the Games

and Japan’s prime minister on Monday admitted a delay may be “inevitable”. Skinner, who won gold and silver medals at the 2016 Olympics and is a member of the British Olympic Associatio­n’s (BOA) athletes’ commission, was scathing about Bach in a social media post on Monday.

“IOC president Thomas Bach’s stubbornne­ss and arrogance has spectacula­rly failed in this instance and he has weakened the Olympic movement,” Skinner wrote on Twitter.

“This isn’t the first time he has put his own motives above the athletes and the movement.” British sprint star Dina AsherSmith, who won the 200 metres world title last year, said the IOC’s delay created further uncertaint­y for competitor­s.

“So wait... does this mean that athletes face up to another FOUR weeks of finding

ways to fit in training - whilst potentiall­y putting ourselves, coaches, support staff and loved ones at risk just to find out they were going to be postponed anyway!!!”

‘DON’T THINK WE CAN SEND A TEAM’

Meanwhile British Olympic Associatio­n chairman Hugh Robertson warned it was unlikely the country could send a team to Tokyo should the 2020 Games go ahead as scheduled. “I think it is very simple. If the virus continues as predicted by the (UK) government, I don’t think there is any way we can send a team,” Robertson, a former British sports minister, told Sky Sports News.

“And I base that on two things. Firstly, I don’t see any way that the athletes and Team GB could be ready by then. “Elite training facilities are perfectly understand­ably

and quite correctly closed around the country, so there is no way they could undertake the preparatio­n they need to get ready for a Games.

“Second, there is the appropriat­eness of holding an Olympic Games at a time like this. “We are actually in a process where we are talking to all our sports. We will complete that over the next couple of days. At the end of that we have already said to the IOC that we think their four-week pause is absolutely the right thing to do.

“We can’t see any way that this can go ahead as things are constitute­d at the moment.” Earlier, a spokesman for Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, urged the IOC to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

“Athletes are facing significan­t uncertaint­y in the current environmen­t... We want the Internatio­nal Olympic Committee to make a definitive decision soon, to bring clarity to all of those involved,” the spokesman said.

“The sports minister, Nigel Huddleston, set out yesterday (Sunday) that the IOC should be seriously considerin­g postponing the games.”

 ??  ?? Callum Skinner
Callum Skinner

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