On Tuesday the International Olympic Committee (IOC) continued its consultations with all stakeholders of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and met with the International Olympic Summer Sports Federations. Consultations with the National Olympic Committees (NOCs), the athletes’ representatives, the International Paralympic Committee, other International Federations (IFs) and other stakeholders will follow in the coming days.
The following communique sets out the principles established by the IOC Executive Board, and implementation in cooperation with all stakeholders concerned. The IOC will continue to act as a responsible organisation and, in this context, asks all stakeholders within their own remits to do everything possible to contribute to the containment of the virus.
Communique from the IOC
This is an unprecedented situation for the whole world, and our thoughts are with all those affected by this crisis. We are in solidarity with the whole of society to do everything to contain the virus. The situation around the COVID-19 virus is also impacting the preparations for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and is changing day by day.
The IOC remains fully committed to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and with more than four months to go before the Games there is no need for any drastic decisions at this stage; and any speculation at this moment would be counter-productive.
The IOC encourages all athletes to continue to prepare for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 as best they can. We will keep supporting the athletes by consulting with them and their respective NOCs, and by providing them with the latest information and developments, which are accessible for athletes worldwide on the Athlete365 website and via their respective NOCs and IFs.
We will continue to act in a responsible way and have agreed the following overriding principles about the staging of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: (1) To protect the health of everyone involved and to support the containment of the virus. (2) To safeguard the interests of the athletes and of Olympic sport.
The IOC will continue to monitor the situation 24/7. Already in mid-February, a task force was set up consisting of the IOC, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, the Japanese authorities and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
The purpose of the task force is to ensure coordinated actions by all stakeholders. It has the mission to keep a constant appraisal of the situation to form the basis for the ongoing operational planning and necessary adaptations. The task force also monitors the implementation of the various actions decided. The IOC will continue to follow the guidance of this task force. The IOC’s decision will not be determined by financial interests, because thanks to its risk management policies and insurance it will in any case be able to continue its operations and accomplish its mission to organize the Olympic Games.
Currently, all Olympic Movement stakeholders and the athletes face significant challenges around securing the final qualification places for the Games. In some countries, athletes are even finding it hard to continue their regular training schedules. The IOC is reassured by the solidarity and flexibility shown by the athletes, the IFs and the NOCs that are managing these challenges across a number of sports.
To date, 57 per cent of the athletes are already qualified for the Games. For the remaining 43 per cent of places, the IOC will work with the IFs to make any necessary and practical adaptations to their respective qualification systems for Tokyo 2020, in line with the following principles: (1) All quota places that have already been allocated to date remain allocated to the NOCs and athletes that obtained them. (2) The possibility remains to use existing and scheduled qualification events, wherever these still have fair access for all athletes and teams. (3) All necessary adaptations to qualification systems and all allocation of remaining places will be based on on-field results (e.g. IF ranking or historical results); and reflect where possible the existing principles of the respective qualification systems (e.g. use of rankings or continental/regional specific event results).
Any increase in athlete quotas will be considered on a case-by-case basis under exceptional circumstances, with the support of the Organizing Committee Tokyo 2020. The IFs will make proposals for any adaptations to their respective qualification systems based on the principles outlined above. The adaptations need to be implemented sport by sport because of the differences between qualification systems. The IOC has already put in place an accelerated procedure to solve this situation. Any necessary revisions to the Tokyo 2020 qualification systems by sport will be published by the beginning of April 2020 and communicated to all stakeholders.
It should be pointed out that we do not at the moment, have any qualifiers for Tokyo 2020. IOC President Thomas Bach said: “The health and well-being of all those involved in the preparations for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is our number-one concern. All measures are being taken to safeguard the safety and interests of athletes, coaches and support teams. We are an Olympic community; we support one another in good times and in difficult times. This Olympic solidarity defines us as a community.”
Prior to release of the communique I interviewed ex-IOC Immediate Member and Immediate Past President of the St Lucia Olympic Committee Inc, Richard Peterkin to get his views on the 2020 Olympic Games. Here’s what he had to say: “The issue of whether or not the IOC—and they are the only ones who can do it—has to cancel, reschedule and postpone the Olympics is obviously something that all the stakeholders at this stage, with everybody else cancelling everything, are very worried about. The most worried is Japan, because for them, having invested billions of dollars, any change to the dates would have a serious impact. They, like everybody, seem to have done a good job of containing it.”
He added: “Only the IOC can cancel the Olympics but clearly, if Japan tells the IOC we can’t do it—it is too risky—the IOC is not going to force the issue. The IOC has the reserves and the insurance that can take it like that. Japan will be the one most affected because of the amount of money they spent.” With the Olympics set to take place in July, Peterkin told me he expects a decision on whether or not they will proceed, to be made as late as May.
I asked Peterkin to comment on whether athletes would still show up, if Japan does get the green light. He replied: “It is kind of a two-edged sword here, because you have a lot of athletes that would be worried, as they were in Brazil with the zika virus. From what the numbers indicated, they came anyway to Brazil.”
He pointed out that for some athletes this might be their only chance to compete at the Olympics and they might be prepared to take whatever risks there are. What is Peterkin’s gut feeling with regard to the Olympics taking place this year?
He said: “It would be speculation, but I am just seeing over the past week the level of opposition in staging the Games is growing from outside, from the press as a rule. Then, from the other side, from those who, like I am, are more familiar with the IOC and the Games and so on, they are becoming more defensive. While the IOC have said they have until the end of May, my gut feeling is they will make a decision before then. If I have to put a bet on it, I have to say, based on everything that’s happening now, particularly outside of China and so on, it does not look good, but I wouldn’t say it’s going to be cancelled.”
One might ask, in light of everything that has happened, particularly when it comes to qualifying for the Olympics, how this will affect Saint Lucian athletes. Peterkin’s thoughts: “From a Saint Lucian point of view, we don’t have at the moment any qualifiers. Nobody has qualified but we were hoping that Jeanelle Scheper and Levern Spencer might be able to qualify, along with Albert Reynolds and Julien Alfred. Now, because of all the travel restrictions, the IFs that are still having qualifying meets have cancelled them.
That’s the biggest problem the IOC is facing because, with all the cancellations of these qualification meets for athletes, how do you decide who qualifies and who does not? The IFs are talking about going on the basis of world rankings or various meets they [the athletes] may have gone to before. There has been some discussion of maybe expanding the quota of athletes allowed to go.”
If the Tokyo 2020 Olympics do not take place, it won’t be the first time the Games have been cancelled. The Olympic Games were cancelled in 1940. Guess where! In Tokyo, because of World War II. The circumstances today are different but, nevertheless, let’s hope history does not repeat itself.
