International Olympic Committee leaders said they needed four weeks to determine the fate of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
But after worldwide condemnation from athletes and sports officials, the IOC and Japanese organizers announced Tuesday the summer’s big sporting event will not be held because of the spreading coronavirus pandemic.
The leaders said in a statement that the Games “must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community.”
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and IOC president Thomas Bach made the joint statement to postpone the Olympics for the first time in modern history during peacetime. The Olympics in 1916, 1940 and 1944 were canceled because of World Wars I and II.
The latest development disrupts the international sports calendar for the next year from sponsorships to qualification events. Until a date is announced, athletes and their respective sports organizations will remain on hold.
USA Volleyball’s chief executive Jamie Davis said Tuesday he believes Olympic officials and organizers “will work cohesively together to reset the Games next year in a fair manner for all involved.”
The decision announced Tuesday came on the heels of veteran IOC member Dick Pound saying postponement “is the only other logical possibility” as national Olympic committees in Australia and Canada said they would not send athletes to Tokyo this summer.
The Olympics were scheduled for July 24-Aug. 9 and the Paralympics Aug. 25-Sept. 6.
The Tokyo Games were the biggest event in question for the summer. The Tour de France, the world’s most famous bike race, still is scheduled to go from June 27-July 19.
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 report that almost 340,000 people worldwide have contracted the virus and more than 14,000 have died.
“Despite the feeling of eventuality that so many of us have felt in the lead up to this moment — my heart breaks for you, your fellow athletes around the world, our friends at Tokyo 2020, the people of Japan, and all who are impacted by this global pandemic and the decision to postpone the Tokyo Games 2020,” U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee chief Sarah Hirshland wrote to American athletes.
“We heard your concerns and we shared them. With this decision, the work of planning a new version of the Tokyo Games is now officially underway.”
On Sunday, the IOC executive board said it needed about a month to weigh all the factors before announcing a postponement. But the lack of a decision was met with a backlash as the infection rate worldwide accelerated.
IOC officials acknowledged the crisis in its statement Tuesday, saying, “There are more than 375,000 cases now recorded worldwide and in nearly every country, and their number is growing by the hour.”
U.S. soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone said the decision was in line with what American soccer players and coaches wanted. But like almost every other national governing body official, Parlow Cone said there are so many questions “it is challenging right now because we don’t have a date.”
The announcement left many in limbo, such as the U.S. men’s soccer team that is trying to qualify for the Olympics for the first time since 2008. The CONCACAF men’s qualifying tournament was postponed this week in Guadalajara, Mexico, because of concerns about COVID-19. A new date has not been announced. The world champion women’s team already qualified.
Of the 11,000 athletes in 33 sports that would have been competing in Tokyo, more than 4,000 of them had yet to qualify. For practical matters, some wonder if the qualification rules will be modified.
Greg Massialas, of San Francisco, coach of the top-ranked men’s foil team, said he expects fencing officials to use the current rankings to determine Olympic qualification.
“In some ways, it is better to know what will happen than to be in a state of limbo,” he said of the announcement.
Massailas, whose son Alexander is a two-time Olympic medalist, and whose daughter Sabrina is close to making her first Olympic team, is coaching his kids at home during the lockdown.
“In terms of training, it is going to be radically different,” he said. “We have to scrap the rest of the year and look at how we plan for the next year. We don’t know what the effect will be.”
Alexander Massilas, a Stanford graduate, posted on Instagram: “Extraordinary times for extraordinary measures. All we can do now is keep looking forward. We’ll be ready when the time comes.”
IOC vice president Anita DeFrantz, of Santa Monica, said Monday dealing with a postponement for a quadrennial event is more complicated than canceling the NCAA basketball championships or pushing the NBA season back.
“It is horrible for all events, but there is something a little more challenging for somebody who has been working on something for four years and can’t do it again for another four years,” she said.
But many athletes did not want to risk going to Tokyo this summer.
Lafayette’s Ruth Winder, considered one of America’s top candidates for the Olympic cycling team, praised the decision.
“It’s a really strange feeling and it’s all still sinking in this morning, but I believe it’s the right call,” she said in a statement through her team, Trek-Segafredo.
Five-time Olympic swim champion Nathan Adrian, of Oakland, expressed frustration Monday night over the IOC’s delay in postponing the event.
“Do it, get it over with,” the Cal graduate said in an interview. “By far and away the most important part is they are going against their own Olympic Charter that’s supposed to promote fairness and eliminate discrimination.
“What about a 2020 Olympics would be fair when the medalists were the ones who were able to train? You have entire nations starting to pull out of the Olympics. Would a medal mean the same to people that don’t include two very strong swim nations, Canada and Australia?
This isn’t feasible and it’s not fair.”
Executive Director Brendan Schwab of the World Players Association said in a statement, “The postponement will help address anxiety among athletes which naturally exists given that any meaningful training and preparation for the Games has been impossible.
“World Players trusts that the postponement heralds a change in the culture of IOC decision-making from one of hierarchy to one of inclusion.”
