Olympics biggest casualty as busier 2021 beckons
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday March 27, 2020 16:56
The biggest 2020 casualty has been the Olympic Games which were to be held in Tokyo, but have now been pushed to next year, as the outbreak shows no signs of abating.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) this week announced the Olympics had been postponed to next year. The event, due to begin on July 24, will now take place no later than the summer of 2021.
The event would however, maintain its name, Tokyo 2020 despite taking place in 2021. “The unprecedented and unpredictable spread of the outbreak has seen the situation in the rest of the world deteriorating,” the IOC and the games’ organisers said in a statement.
The staging of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham would not be impacted by the IOC’s decision to postpone the Tokyo Olympics.
However, the 2021 World Athletics Championships and World Swimming Championships are set to be pushed back a year as a result of the Tokyo decision, culminating in a potential fixture clash.
One additional consequence of the Tokyo decision is the likely postponement of the 2021 Commonwealth Youth Games, scheduled for Trinidad and Tobago.
According to reports, both the prospective Tokyo clash and the economic impact of the coronavirus in the Caribbean are likely to lead to the Games being delayed until at least 2023.
Meanwhile, local administrators applauded the decision to move the Olympic Games to next year.
Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufho has welcomed the decision to push back the Olympics.
“Initially as Africa and European countries, we had voted to support IOC that Olympics should proceed as planned. We thought that the coronavirus would be contained within a few weeks. But we now realise that the situation is getting worse,” he said.
Serufho said they now realise that even if the Games were to be moved to October, maybe the virus would still be around. He said the most important thing that was considered was public and athletes’ health. He said it was clear the coronavirus issue would not be resolved anytime soon.
“There is uncertainty at the moment. So Japan and IOC made a wise move,” he added.
Regarding the postponement of the competition to next year, Serufho said there are advantages and disadvantages to the decision. He said athletes could prepare for different competitions at the same time.
“You can prepare for the Olympics and World Championships at the same time. In that regard, we can use the same funds. The challenge would arise if the competitions were far apart. The other challenge might arise if athletes suffer injuries,” he said.
Serufho said the IOC, Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and international federations are working together to avoid clashes.
Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) vice president-administration, Oabona Theetso said the decision to postpone Olympics was a welcome development because there is nothing for athletics without athletes.
“We are yet to meet all stakeholders so that we discuss other issues like when we would dissolve the athletics camp and how we are going to assist athletes,” he said.
For his part, Botswana Boxing Association (BoBA) president, Dr Thato Patlakwe said it was a good move to postpone the games. “Our athletes are still at risk. A lot of studies with evidence should be done so that we understand COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
Other competitions that have fallen victim to the coronavirus are the Euro2020 football competition, which has been moved to 2021. The same applies to the Copa America, World Athletics Under-20 Championships, Africa Championships, FIFA Club World Cup, World Cup qualifiers, World Indoors Championships, World Cross Country and World Championships.