Cancelled pool events raise doubts over Tokyo readiness

Tokyo Olympics organisers grappled with the cancellation of test events for several pool disciplines just days after they restarted, as the Covid-19 pandemic continued to disrupt preparations for the July start to the Games.

The International Swimming Federation (Fina) has cancelled Olympic qualifiers over two months for diving and artistic swimming that were to double up as test events.

A water polo test event, due this weekend and involving only Japanese athletes, is also cancelled because organising officials from overseas are unable to come to Japan due to strict countermeasures, public broadcaster NHK said.

A spokeswoman for Tokyo organising committee, which was running the water polo event, declined to comment on the report.

The news is a blow for organisers just days after they restarted test events, which are an important dry run to confirm the Games’ operational capabilities, for the first time in more than a year.

It also highlights the mammoth task of planning for the world’s biggest sporting event while Japan is struggling to combat a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections.

Japan’s vaccination campaign made a slow start and some prefectures were battling a resurgence in new infections, with one hot spot, the city of Osaka, expected to cancel its leg of the torch relay next week.

Organisers were initially planning 18 test events in April and May, starting with wheelchair rugby April 3-4.

But Fina has cancelled its Olympic qualifiers in Tokyo, which were also to be test events, for diving scheduled for April 18-23 and artistic swimming May 1-4, according to its website.

Fina has also cancelled a non-test event, the Olympic marathon swim qualifier in the southern Japanese city of Fukuoka in late May, its website shows.

Fina said on Friday it was reviewing its qualifiers, without giving a reason. On Sunday, Yasuo Mori, a senior Tokyo 2020 official, said Fina intended to cancel the events and talks with the organisers scheduled this week.

The BBC, citing a letter it had accessed from Fina to national federations, reported on Friday the diving event was cancelled because the organisers’ precautions “will not properly ensure” the safety of athletes.

The BBC report also said Fina was unhappy that several Japanese embassies around the world had yet to issue visas to competitors, and cited other factors including rising costs of measures to control the spread of Covid-19 that the global body was asked to pay for.