AFP / Philip FONG
The coronavirus pandemic has led to calls to postpone the Tokyo Olympics, set to take place this summer
Pressure mounted on Olympic organisers to postpone the
2020 Tokyo Games on Saturday after the powerful US track and field
federation urged for this summer's event to be pushed back due to the
coronavirus pandemic.
USA Track and Field became the latest
influential sporting body to ask for the Games to be called off after
its head Max Siegel "respectfully requested" in a letter that the US
Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) "advocate ... for the
postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo".
USOPC had said it was too soon to axe the July 24-August 9
Games, much like International Olympic Committee (IOC) head Thomas
Bach, who said that it would be "premature" to make such a big decision.
"The
right and responsible thing to do is to prioritise everyone's health
and safety and appropriately recognise the toll this difficult situation
has, and continues to take, on our athletes and their Olympic Games
preparations," wrote Siegel.
USATF joined a growing chorus of
calls from sports organisations to push back the Olympics a day after
the country's swimming federation asked USOPC to back a postponement
until 2021.
"We urge the USOPC, as a leader within the Olympic
Movement, to use its voice and speak up for the athletes," USA Swimming
CEO Tim Hinchey said in a letter.
That request for a delay was
echoed on Saturday by France's swimming federation which said that the
Games could not be organised properly in the "current context".
The
Norwegian Olympic Committee (NOC) quickly followed, saying that it had
sent a letter to the IOC on Friday motivated in part by a Norwegian
government ban on organised sports activities which had created "a very
challenging time for the sports movement in Norway".
"Our clear
recommendation is that the Olympic Games in Tokyo shall not take place
before the COVID-19 situation is under firm control on a global scale,"
the NOC said in the letter.
- IOC 'putting us in danger' -
AFP/File / FABRICE COFFRINI
IOC President Thomas Bach insists that it is too early for the Olympics to be postponed, as the start is four months away
The new chairman of the United Kingdom's athletics
governing body also questioned the need to hold the Olympics this summer
given the uncertainty surrounding the spread of COVID-19, which has
killed nearly 11,500 people worldwide.
"To leave it where it is is
creating so much pressure in the system. It now has to be addressed,"
head of UK Athletics Nic Coward told the BBC.
However, on Friday, Bach defended the IOC's refusal to
cancel the Olympics by saying that the Games were further away than
other shelved events, such as football's European Championship which was
due to start in mid-June and was moved to 2021.
"We are four-and-a-half months away from the Games," Bach told the New York Times.
"For us, (postponement) would not be responsible now."
Athletes
lashed out at IOC advice to continue training "as best they can", with
Olympic pole vault champion Katerina Stefanidi accusing the body of
"putting us in danger".
"The IOC wants us to keep risking our
health, our family's health and public health to train every day?" asked
a perplexed Stefanidi.
World champion fencer Race Imboden of the
United States said on Twitter that he was "worried" about the prospect
of the Olympics going ahead.
"We keep being told the Olympic Games
are happening. Starting to realise it's more important to have the
games go on than the athletes be prepared or mentally healthy."
But USOPC chairwoman Susanne Lyons insisted on Friday that organisers had time on their side.
"We
don't have to make a decision. Our games are not next week, or two
weeks from now. They're four months from now," Lyons said.
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