GAMES FURY AS OPPOSITION TO TOKYO GROWS

IOC AND LOCAL ORGANISERS UNDER FIRE FOR THEIR BUSINESS-AS-USUAL STANCE OVER 2020 OLYMPICS

TOKYO officials were today facing a backlash for their insistence the Olympics would go ahead, with one Japanese Olympic Committee executive board member accusing Games organisers of “putting athletes at risk”.

Both Tokyo 2020 and the International Olympic Committee have steadfastly said the Olympics will begin as planned at the end of July.

But former Olympian Kaori Yamaguchi warned that such an approach was detrimental to the athletes supposed to be the centrepiece of the Games.

“I don’t think the situation allows for athletes to continue training as usual,” said the ex-judo world champion.

“By asking them to train under these conditions, the IOC are opening themselves up to criticism that they are not putting athletes first.

“What I’m most scared of is that we force an opening and have people question the Olympics, asking, ‘Why only the Olympics?’ The Olympics symbolise the ideal that sports bring about world peace. We should not hold the Olympics if people across the world can’t enjoy themselves.”

IOC president Thomas Bach reiterated the organisation’s stance that the Games would go ahead as planned, but insisted he was not oblivious to athlete concerns, having spoken to 220 of them in a conference call this week.

“For an athlete, the worst thing for preparation is the uncertainty that distracts from training and preparations,” he said. “We cannot pretend we have answers to all your questions. We are in the same situation as you and the rest of the world. It is a unique, exceptional situation, which requires exceptional solutions.”

Team GB hopefuls are growing increasingly concerned about their own preparations being derailed, while the British Olympic Association warned the IOC and Tokyo officials yesterday that they would not take any risk with athlete health and welfare.

Former British Olympic medallist Sharron Davies insisted that “the most sensible thing to do now with the Tokyo Olympics is to postpone them”, pointing out that whatever now happened with the coronavirus pandemic, it was not allowing athletes to train equally.

“Even if Japan is okay in four months’ time, the rest of the world might not be,” the former swimmer told The Sun. “As far as the IOC are concerned, it should always be about fairness. There is the question about unfairness in terms of the preparation in different countries.

“That could mean a lack of access to pools, velodromes and athletics tracks. Some countries are closing their facilities, others have kept them open.”

That stance was backed by Swimming Australia, who raised their concerns with regards to both their own athletes and the wider global picture.

“We hope the IOC are considering everything they can to ensure there is a level playing field, with athletes being able to perform in healthy conditions,” a spokesperson said.

“At the heart of Olympic competition is the notion of fair play — a value we hold very close — and we do not want that to be compromised. We love to compete, but the health and safety of everyone and the notion of fair competition should always be paramount.” Four-time Olympic champion Matthew Pinsent said that the IOC stance was “counter to what every government is saying around the world”.

He said: “We have other priorities and I think the Olympics should, at the very least, be saying we should postpone or indeed just cancel at this stage and talk about postponement later on.

“I just don’t think there’s much of a choice at this stage.”

Toni Minichiello guided Jessica EnnisHill to medals at the past two Olympics — gold at London 2012 and silver at Rio de Janeiro.

Despite coaching Irish heptathlon Kate O’Connor with a view to Tokyo 2020, Minichiello wrote in The Times: “Already it feels to me like we need to postpone the Olympic Games. I appreciate how difficult that might be for the organisers, but this is also extremely difficult for all the athletes out there, as well as the coaches.

“At some point, those in power need to realise that such disrupted preparation will affect the integrity of the sport. Pushing the Olympics back would make sense to me right now.”