Olympic officials concede Tokyo Games may be postponed; Canada won’t send athletes in 2020

After weeks of insisting that the Tokyo Games would take place on schedule this summer, Olympic officials revealed Sunday they are considering a postponement, which could mark the first step in ultimately delaying the world’s largest sporting event because of the novel coronavirus.
Facing mounting pressure and growing criticism, Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, wrote a letter to Olympic athletes Sunday in which he said canceling the Summer Games altogether is not an option and vowed that a final decision on postponement would be made within the next four weeks.
The message prompted a strong backlash Sunday night when the Canadian Olympic Committee said it would not send its athletes to compete in Tokyo this summer, the strongest statement to date against the IOC’s preference to stick to its schedule.
“This is not solely about athlete health — it is about public health,” the committee said in a statement, in which it called for a postponement. “With COVID-19 and the associated risks, it is not safe for our athletes, and the health and safety of their families and the broader Canadian community for athletes to continue training towards these Games. In fact, it runs counter to the public health advice which we urge all Canadians to follow.”
Canada is the first country to refuse participation in these Summer Olympics, dealing the IOC a devastating blow hours after the international governing body sought to assuage its growing detractors and critics with its message to athletes.
“Together with all the stakeholders, we have started detailed discussions today to complete our assessment of the rapid development of the worldwide health situation and its impact on the Olympic Games, including a scenario of postponement,” Bach wrote.
Hours after Bach’s letter but before the Canadian delegation’s announcement, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a parliamentary committee Monday morning that postponing the Tokyo Games may become a consideration if the event cannot be staged in a “complete manner,” marking the first time Abe has publicly entertained the idea of a delay.
“If that is difficult, we would have no choice but to decide to postpone with athletes in the first priority,” Abe said, adding that canceling the Tokyo Games altogether is not an option.
Later on Monday, Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, said the IOC and Japan would like to “closely examine” the various scenarios open to them over the next four weeks, although he hinted that organizers would prefer to keep the Olympics within 2020.
“What we are going to do before anything else is to start by simulating about whether we postpone one month, three months, five months, one year,” Mori said. “We need to make a simulation about the various scenarios.”
The public concessions come as the IOC has found itself increasingly under fire, facing heavy criticism from many athletes and sports federations. USA Swimming and USA Track and Field are among the organizations that have publicly called for a one-year postponement in recent days, and athletes from around the world have voiced their concerns about competing in Tokyo this summer. Many have struggled to train and prepare for the Olympics while also abiding by safety warnings from public health officials and government-backed restrictions.
Bach said in his letter that deciding on the fate of the Tokyo Olympics now “would still be premature.”
“This uncertainty rocks our nerves and raises or strengthens doubts about a positive future; it destroys hope,” he wrote. “Some even have to fear for their very existence. This uncertainty stems from the fact that, at this moment, nobody can really make fully reliable statements about the duration of this fight against the virus. This is true for sport, science, the media, politics, and all of society. Therefore also the IOC can unfortunately not answer all your questions.”
The letter didn’t stop the calls for an Olympic postponement. Sebastian Coe, head of World Athletics, the international governing body for track and field, wrote a letter of his own to Bach on Sunday and said keeping with a July-August schedule is “neither feasible nor desirable.”
“No one wants to see the Olympic Games postponed but as I have said publicly, we cannot hold the event at all cost, certainly not at the cost of athlete safety, and a decision on the Olympic Games may become very obvious very quickly,” Coe wrote in the letter. “I believe that time has come and we owe it to our athletes to give them respite where we can. And in this matter, I believe we can.”
Late Sunday night, Australia added itself to the chorus. While not as strident as Canada, Australia advised athletes to prepare for an Olympics in 2021 and said a team “could not be assembled” for 2020 given the global circumstances. “It’s clear the Games can’t be held in July,” Ian Chesterman, the Australian chef de mission for Tokyo, said in a statement.
Sarah Hirshland, chief executive of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, issued a joint statement Sunday with Han Xiao, chair of the organization’s athletes advisory council, saying the IOC letter was “an important step in providing clarity, but our athlete community continues to face enormous ambiguity surrounding the 2020 Games in Tokyo.”
The USOPC officials said they’re “eager to continue to explore alternatives to ensure all athletes have a robust and fulfilling Olympic and Paralympic experience, regardless of when that can safely occur. Together we will find solutions that keep the spirit of the Games alive.”
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency also called for a postponement Sunday. Travis Tygart, USADA’s chief executive, told The Washington Post: “We agree the Games should be postponed, unfortunately, up to a year in fairness to athletes whose lives have been upended and to ensure they don’t potentially become the dirtiest Games ever due to the significant reduction of anti-doping efforts due to covid-19.”
By acknowledging postponement as a possibility, the IOC has relaxed its tone while still holding on to hope that the Tokyo Games can go on as scheduled.
“It is our experience as athletes that you must always be ready to adapt to new situations,” Bach wrote. “For this reason we have, as indicated before, been thinking in different scenarios and are adapting them almost day by day.”
Bach did not outline possible scenarios. A one-year delay appears to be the most likely option, though organizers also could consider a postponement of a few months or perhaps up to two years. While an Olympics has never been postponed, several have taken place later on the calendar, including the 2000 Sydney and 1988 Seoul Games, which both took place in late September, and the 1964 Tokyo and the 1968 Mexico City Games, which took place in October.
As concerns over the rapid spread of the disease have grown in recent weeks, pressure has mounted on Olympic officials to make a difficult decision on an event that poses a massive problem for organizers and athletes alike. As they publicly encouraged athletes to continue training for this summer, Olympic officials privately discussed holding the Summer Games without spectators or rescheduling the event for a later date.
The Olympics, scheduled to begin July 24, draw together more than 11,000 athletes and 25,000 journalists from more than 200 countries — plus hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists — running counter to the practice of social distancing advised by public health officials. The Paralympics, scheduled to begin Aug. 25, were expected to attract 4,400 participants from around the world.
The coronavirus has disrupted athletic schedules and canceled key qualifying events all over the globe. As gyms and facilities closed down — including two U.S. Olympic training centers — many athletes struggled to find a place to train. Still, at an IOC executive board meeting March 3, a spokesman said the organization had not even discussed contingency plans and vowed the Games would begin on time.
Bach spoke with stakeholders last week, sharing the same message, and the IOC issued a communique saying, “The IOC encourages all athletes to continue to prepare for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 as best they can.”
Postponing an Olympics is no easy task; it would involve numerous stakeholders, sponsors, countries, sports federations and national organizing committees. Experts say any sort of delay probably will pose logistical problems in terms of the global sporting calendar and would upend the schedules for athletes, who have been targeting the summer of 2020 and built their lives and training routines around peaking competitively this year.
In his letter to athletes, Bach called postponement an “extremely complex challenge."
“A number of critical venues needed for the Games could potentially not be available anymore,” Bach said. “The situations with millions of nights already booked in hotels is extremely difficult to handle, and the international sports calendar for at least 33 Olympic sports would have to be adapted. These are just a few of many, many more challenges.”
Hayley Wickenheiser, who won four gold medals and a silver in the Winter Olympics with the Canadian women’s ice hockey team, and made an appearance in the 2000 Summer Games on Canada’s softball team, said the Canadian Olympic Committee’s statement Sunday made her “proud” of her country.
Wickenheiser is also a member of the IOC and its Athletes’ Commission, and she had made waves Tuesday by posting comments online in which she accused the organization of being “insensitive and irresponsible” in continuing with the planned dates this summer for the Tokyo Games. Reached by phone Sunday, she said she heard from “senior leadership” at the IOC who “weren’t very happy” with her remarks, but she pointed to her recent experience “on the front lines in emergency rooms” as having dramatically altered her own outlook on the crisis.
“I’ve seen this virus progress,” said Wickenheiser, 41, who noted she was in her final year of medical school. “Quite honestly, I didn’t give the severity of it the full attention that it deserved until a couple of weeks ago. Seeing a few things in the emergency room quickly changed my perspective on this. … Looking forward, the medical evidence just doesn’t lend itself to the world being ready to hold an Olympics in four months.”
Wickenheiser asserted that she thought postponement of the Tokyo Olympics was now “inevitable,” but added that the IOC and the Japanese organizing committee deserve some time to make new arrangements.
“This is a very complex event with a lot of moving targets and a lot of pieces involved, so to just come out with an answer tomorrow isn’t necessarily fair,” she said, “but I think they have no choice but to postpone.”
The IOC has said it will rely on counsel from the World Health Organization and prioritize health and safety, but there’s also big money at stake, and postponement could require heavy changes over major contracts. The Olympics are a costly undertaking, and these Summer Games were expected to carry a price tag of $12.6 billion — though some Japanese estimates have suggested the actual costs would ultimately be much higher.
The Games also generate big revenue. The IOC, a nonprofit organization, brought in more than $5 billion during the most recent four-year Olympic cycle, nearly three-quarters of which came from broadcast rights. NBC, the rights-holder in the United States, contributes about half of that and thus carries a lot of sway with the IOC. Comcast, NBC’s parent company, has said insurance coverage would ensure the network doesn’t suffer losses, though it would miss out on Olympic-related advertising revenue.
“These are extraordinary and unprecedented times, and we fully support the IOC’s decision to step up its scenario-planning for the Tokyo Olympics,” an NBC spokesman said in a statement Sunday. “We are prepared to stand behind any decision made by the IOC, the Japanese government, and the world health officials with whom they are working regarding the Tokyo Olympics.”
Simon Denyer in Tokyo and Adam Kilgore in Washington contributed to this report.


How did the postponement of the 2020 Olympics affect athletes?

For Olympic athletes, a one-year postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics presented numerous challenges in terms of training and eligibility.  During the global pandemic, athletes' training was severely limited as their training sites were closed. Given that the Olympics are every four years meant that in one year, an athlete could blossom, suffer a career-ending injury, an aging veteran could age out, and specifically for female gymnasts whose competitive life span is brief, the impact was significant.  Other effects of postponing the Olympics, such as on construction or businesses, are not relevant. To be sure the article is referencing the correct Olympics, it must mention Tokyo directly.

Find an article discussing the impact of the Olympic delay on athletes' preparation.

Olympic gymnastics qualifying, already complicated, further muddled by coronavirus

MILWAUKEE — The spread of the coronavirus has complicated the qualification process for national gymnastics federations around the world seeking to determine whom they will send to the 2020 Olympics.
A four-meet series that begins here Saturday at the American Cup is scheduled to continue in Stuttgart, Germany (March 21); Birmingham, England (March 28); and Tokyo (April 4). Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan each have at least 100 confirmed cases of the virus that has infected more than 100,000 people worldwide.
The United States plans to send gymnasts to each event and almost certainly will use the results to add a spot to its Olympic roster.
“We are taking a proactive stance on that,” Li Li Leung, the president and CEO of USA Gymnastics, said Friday of the upcoming World Cup events. “We are monitoring the situation closely. … We are also pushing [the International Gymnastics Federation] to provide us with additional guidance, so we can make the right decisions for our athletes as to whether or not they should be going to these events.”
Morgan Hurd, the 2017 all-around world champion, is competing here Saturday, as is Kayla DiCello of Boyds, as a wild-card entry. Host nations can add a wild-card spot for an additional gymnast, but those results don’t count toward the country’s points total for Olympic qualification. Sam Mikulak and Shane Wiskus (wild card) will represent the United States in the men’s competition.
During the U.S. women’s campaign to earn this Olympic spot, Simone Biles, the 2016 Olympic champion, is expected to represent the United States at the Tokyo event. Fellow U.S. Olympic hopefuls Sunisa Lee (Stuttgart) and Grace McCallum (Birmingham) are on the rosters for the other two events.
Hurd said the virus has not affected her preparation, apart from keeping hand sanitizer in her bag.
Chinese gymnasts were forced to withdraw from a competition with Olympic qualification implications last month in Melbourne because of the Australian government’s travel restrictions. Some Chinese gymnasts, including Zhang Jin and Hu Xuwei, who will compete Saturday, reportedly had been training in Doha, Qatar, to avoid similar complications with future meets.
Giorgia Villa of Italy, one of the countries with thousands of confirmed cases, will compete Saturday and was at Friday’s training session.
Russian gymnasts Nikita Nagornyy and Lilia Akhaimova will not compete at the American Cup this weekend in Milwaukee. Nagornyy won the men’s all-around at the 2019 world championships and would have been a favorite to win the American Cup.
The 2020 qualification process is far more complex than in previous Olympics. There are many paths to earning Olympic spots, which means the process involves far more competitions that affect qualification, heightening logistical challenges posed by the coronavirus and the uncertainty surrounding it.
“The fast-changing situation related to the covid-19 outbreak is a challenge for the International Gymnastics Federation as well as all sports governing bodies,” the sport’s international organization said in a statement Thursday. “The FIG is continuously monitoring the evolution of the situation closely with the host federations of upcoming events.”
The United States and 11 other countries have qualified four-member teams to the Tokyo Olympics, a change from 2016 when teams had five members. But federations can earn up to two additional individual Olympic spots through a process that involves these World Cup meets.
There are eight meets, beginning in November 2018 and ending this month, in which gymnasts can earn points for how well they finish on each apparatus. The gymnast’s best three results count in the final rankings. The winners for each event earn an Olympic spot for themselves, limited to one athlete per country. The United States has only one gymnast who probably will qualify through this route: Jade Carey is in first on both vault and floor with maximum points on each event, meaning she does not need to attend more events to do so.
The American Cup is the first competition in a different World Cup series through which nations are awarded points for their athletes’ all-around finishes. The top three countries at the end of the series earn an Olympic spot. Because all four meets count toward the federation’s point total, missing a competition would hurt a country’s chances.
The third route for earning Olympic spots is through continental championships. The top two finishers at each earn a spot at the Olympics. If their team already has qualified a team to the Olympics, the spot is rewarded to the country, rather than to the individual.
The International Olympic Committee said in a statement it is working with international sport federations and the Tokyo organizing committee to track how qualifying events could be affected by coronavirus.
Leung said USA Gymnastics has asked FIG for guidance and the organization’s response was about “preventive measures,” such as washing hands.
“But we’re like, ‘Well, we actually need guidance on are you going to change the Olympic qualification procedures that are currently written,’ ” Leung said. “They said they’re reviewing it.”
When asked whether USA Gymnastics would keep athletes away from international meets that aren’t necessary for Olympic qualification, Leung said: “I wouldn’t say that, because it depends on where that competition is being held. And it depends on the current situation at that time. As you all know, this is a very fluid situation.”
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U.S. Olympic training centers close, sending Tokyo hopefuls scrambling

Around 200 athletes training for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics were sent scrambling for new training facilities Wednesday after two U.S. Olympic training sites were largely shut down in response to escalating concerns surrounding the coronavirus outbreak.
Just two days after the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee announced new measures for its training center in Colorado Springs, the site now has to close altogether in response to a directive from Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D), who ordered this week that all gyms, restaurants, bars and many other public places must close to slow the spread of the virus.
Athletes were sent a message via a Team USA communication app Tuesday informing them that the state’s health department had instructed Olympic officials to close their training facilities right away, including the pool, velodrome, gyms and strength and conditioning areas. They won’t reopen for at least 30 days, according to the message.
“This is a fluid situation that the State will continue to monitor,” the athletes were told, “and the duration could be extended.”
The center is the largest training hub for athletes training for the Olympics. Several U.S. Olympic teams use the space on a permanent or regular basis, including boxing, cycling, shooting and wrestling. There were about 200 Olympic and Paralympic athletes training there this week, about 75 percent of whom are considered resident athletes, which means they stay in dorms and train at the site full time.
Athletes can stay at the training center and access medical and dining services, but all of the training facilities are off-limits.
“Out of training for a month,” gymnast Sam Mikulak, a two-time Olympian and six-time national champion, posted on Instagram. “I know I’m not alone on this, how is everyone else dealing with their Olympic preparation in these times?”
Many other Olympic hopefuls have been displaced this week, including scores of college athletes targeting Tokyo and those who train at universities’ facilities — gymnasts, swimmers, divers and track and field athletes among them — who also had to find new training accommodations after campuses closed down.
The athletes who choose to leave Colorado Springs could struggle to find new training bases; facilities across the country have been shuttered in recent days, including private gyms, YMCA sites and many facilities with Olympic-size swimming pools.
The Tokyo Games are scheduled to begin July 24. Even as concerns grow that a postponement might have to be considered, the International Olympic Committee has encouraged athletes to keep training and planning to compete this summer.
“The health and well-being of all those involved in the preparations for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is our number-one concern,” IOC President Thomas Bach said in a communique issued Tuesday. “All measures are being taken to safeguard the safety and interests of athletes, coaches and support teams.”
The Olympic training center in Lake Placid, N.Y., was similarly closed this week. New York’s Olympic Regional Development Authority announced Sunday that all training facilities, in addition to all ski mountains, must suspend operations.
The site is the training base for many athletes who compete in winter sports, including bobsledders, lugers, biathletes and ski jumpers. Their competition seasons had largely wrapped, and many already had left the site. Similar to the Colorado facility, the Lake Placid gyms and training centers are closed, but athletes who remain still have access to dining and medical services and conditioning.


USA Track & Field calls for Tokyo Olympics postponement, joining USA Swimming

Pressure mounted on the U.S. Olympics governing body as USA Track & Field called on the federation to push for postponing the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, adding to the growing momentum to delay the Games. USATF became the second American sports governing body in two days to urge Olympic officials to halt the Games, which the International Olympic Committee has insisted will go despite the global coronavirus pandemic.
In an email dated Friday and made public Saturday morning by track’s governing body, USATF chief executive Max Siegel told U.S. Olympic head Sarah Hirshland that USATF was “respectfully requesting” that the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee advocate to the IOC for the Tokyo Games to be postponed. The USOPC said Friday that it did not have to make a decision now because the Olympics start in four months.
Athletes must follow a strict regimen to prepare for the Games, and leaders in individual sports have expressed concern. Siegel’s email focused on the welfare of athletes, whom the IOC has told to continue training — despite massive health risks and widespread government restrictions — as if the Games will go on as scheduled.
The USOPC did not respond Saturday to requests for comment.
“While our world class athletes are willing to push themselves to their athletic limits in pursuit of Olympic success, the likelihood that they will be able to properly train in a safe and adequate environment, and replicate the excellence we have all come to expect, does not appear likely in the midst of this global crisis,” USATF’s statement read. “As we have learned, our athletes are under tremendous pressure, stress and anxiety, and their mental health and wellness is among our highest priorities.”
USATF joined USA Swimming in asking for the postponement, meaning the country’s two biggest sports federations are standing against the IOC’s insistence the Games will go on as scheduled. USA Swimming sent a similar memo to the USOPC on Friday, and coaches explained that swimmers were unable to find places to train, adding another layer of stress as they cope with the coronavirus’s effects on daily life. Before taking an advocacy position, USA Gymnastics is polling its men’s and women’s national teams in all three Olympic disciplines — artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline — to gauge athlete sentiment.
“We acknowledge that there are no perfect answers, and that this is a very complex and difficult decision, but this position at least provides our athletes with the comfort of knowing that they will have adequate time to properly prepare themselves physically, mentally and emotionally to be able to participate in a safe and successful Olympic Games, and that they can shift their focus toward taking care of themselves and their families,” Siegel wrote to Hirshland. “We urge the USOPC, as a leader within the Olympic Movement, to use its voice and speak up for the athletes.”
The USOPC appeared unmoved Friday evening after USA Swimming’s statement was released. In a statement, the USOPC said that the IOC believes it is premature to make a decision regarding the Tokyo Games and that it wanted to give the IOC the opportunity to gather more information before insisting it makes a call.
“We have also heard from athletes that they want … to ensure that we aren’t prematurely taking away any athletes’ opportunity to compete in the Olympic and Paralympic Games until we have better clarity,” the USOPC’s statement read.
Olympic hurdler Lolo Jones, who is training in Louisiana, said the USATF’s stance “brings you some sense of peace and relief.” She hopes the pressure will mount on the IOC so athletes can be relieved of stress. She said her races have all been canceled and she can’t find gyms or college tracks to train at because they all have been closed. Meanwhile, members of her family have lost their jobs and fallen into financial distress.
“Just because we’re Olympians doesn’t mean we’re immune to this disease,” Jones said. “Every time we’re going out in public and trying to find gyms and places to train, I’m like, ‘Really?’ The government is telling us to stay in our house, to self-quarantine, but we can’t because the IOC is being adamant the Olympics are going to go on. Every time I saw a statement from the IOC saying, ‘Hey, the Olympics will go on,’ and my world around me is being so ripped up, it feels like the house is on fire and the IOC is saying: ‘Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. Stay right inside your house.’ ”
Former 110-meter hurdle world record holder Renaldo Nehemiah, now an agent who represents several elite runners, agreed with the USATF’s request. Nehemiah, a University of Maryland alum, would understand the competitive fallout of postponing an Olympics more than most. He would have entered the 1980 Summer Olympics as a heavy gold medal favorite, but the United States boycotted amid political tensions with the Soviet Union.
“The uncertainty of when normalcy will return places an extreme burden on the athletes,” Nehemiah wrote in an email to The Washington Post. “As of this week, most all training facilities have been shut down, outdoors and indoors. Thus, athletes and coaches have to become creative in order to try and simulate their regular training regimen. It’s impossible to replicate at an elite level. And it’s affecting the athletes’ motivation and ultimately their fitness and preparedness. The only sensible thing to do is postpone the games until there’s enough regression of the virus to not place lives in the balance. Life is more precious than games.”
Olympic hopeful Drew Hunter, a distance runner from Purcellville who qualified for last year’s world championships, has had his training only slightly affected. Hunter trains with the running team Tinman Elite, and rather than running in a 12-person pack as usual, they split up into smaller groups of runners who live together. But he runs outside and is able to lift weights in a private gym, and he has continued his normal training schedule. Even still, Hunter agreed with USATF’s call to postpone.
“This is not the time to be selfish about this decision,” Hunter said. “There’s so much more to it. So, yeah, I was like, ‘That is 100 percent the right, healthy, mature, well-thought-out decision for the world as a whole.’ I feel like so often distance runners and athletes in general, we’re in this bubble. Our sport is our life. It takes things like the coronavirus to remind us, ‘No, our life is our life.’ I was bummed, but at the same time, that’s the right call.”
Other track figures echoed Jones’s sentiments about not finding places to train. One prominent track and field coach, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly about a sensitive issue, also noted training concerns, saying: “Everybody in the world is having issues with training facilities.
“All schools and universities are shut down,” the coach said. “If that’s the case, most people are out of luck because almost everybody trains at colleges and universities. You can look at Instagram — [U.S. world champion] Grant Holloway is doing hurdles in a grass field out in front of his house. That’s the case in the whole world.”
In an anonymous survey distributed Friday afternoon, USA Gymnastics President and CEO Li Li Leung asked whether athletes were in favor of a postponement and, if so, for how long. The survey also allowed gymnasts to explain their positions and share any other concerns. In a cover letter, Leung acknowledged the substantial effect the coronavirus crisis was having on athletes’ ability to train and asked that survey responses be returned by noon Eastern time Monday.
When reached Saturday, USA Basketball said it is monitoring the coronavirus but did not take a position on postponing the Games.
“USA Basketball takes the health, wellness and safety of our athletes and coaches extremely seriously,” spokesman Craig Miller said. “This point will be at the forefront of any decision made by the organization.”
Rick Maese and Liz Clarke contributed to this report.


After Tokyo Games postponement, sports look to shuffle Olympic trials, world championships

With the one-year postponement of the Tokyo Olympics official, individual sports federations have begun the daunting task of reshuffling long-set event schedules that include Olympic trials and 2021 world championships.
Longtime International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound expects cooperation from sports’ governing bodies, but the federations’ jobs will not be easy. Like the Games themselves, many world championship events and national Olympic trials have been scheduled for years in advance.
“One of the things you have to do is talk to the individual sports federations, many of whom will have their 2021 schedules either penciled in or perhaps even inked in, and say, ‘This is what we’re thinking of,’ ” Pound said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “My guess is we’d get lots of cooperation, because all the sports know the visibility of the Olympics; it’s multiples of what they get for their stand-alone events. So they’ll try and have their world championships but shift them so they don’t interfere with the Olympics.”
International governing bodies for both track and field and aquatics are already determining the flexibility of dates for their 2021 world championships.
The IOC said Tuesday that the Games will be held about one year after the previously scheduled start date of July 24. The 2021 swimming world championships are set for July 16 to Aug. 1 in Fukuoka, Japan, and the 2021 track and field world championships are scheduled for Aug. 6 to Aug. 15 at the University of Oregon in Eugene.
“FINA will now work closely with the host organising committee of the 2021 FINA World Championships in Fukuoka, with the Japan Swimming Federation and with the Japanese public authorities, in order to determine flexibility around the dates of the competition, if necessary and in agreement with the IOC,” a spokesman for swimming’s international governing body said in a statement. “FINA’s main goal is to ensure the success of its showcase event, while considering the importance of athlete wellbeing and maximising opportunities for aquatics stars to compete at the highest level.”
World Athletics, track and field’s international governing body, said in a news release that it has been in discussions with its world championships organizing committee about potentially rescheduling the event.
“They have assured us that they will work with all of their partners and stakeholders to ensure that Oregon is able to host the World Athletics Championships on alternative dates, including dates in 2022,” the organization said.
Therein lies the tricky nature of rescheduling around the Olympics. Shuffling events set on biennial schedules could have long-term ramifications for athletes.
If World Athletics moves the world championships to 2022 and then reverts to its usual odd-year schedule, track and field leaders could create a stretch in which an Olympics or world championships take place five years in a row.
“Some athletes might get burned out,” 200-meter world champion Noah Lyles said. “A lot of athletes do need that year break. Personally, I think it would be a little too much. We do need some break year to do something other than go out for championships.”
In addition to world championship events, USA Swimming and USA Track & Field have national Olympic trials to consider.
USA Swimming said in a release Tuesday that it is working with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to reschedule the Olympic team trials, originally set for June 21 to June 28 in Omaha. USA Track & Field is starting work on a contingency plan now that the Games’ postponement is official. Its Olympic trials are set for June 19 to June 28 — also at the University of Oregon — and have not yet officially been canceled.
“It’s going to be complicated, but a year gives us all a chance to reset,” Tim Hinchey, president and CEO of USA Swimming, said in a phone interview. “Right now we’re looking at the next 100 days and what’s realistic, what’s not. So, really, our national team cycle always starts September 1. That’s kind of our season: September to August. So right now, it’s: How do we put ourselves in position? If it’s healthy and safe, can we reset in our normal time frame and have it start over? That’s what we’re thinking about right now.”
It is unclear whether the handful of athletes from both sports who have already qualified for the Tokyo Games will have to secure their spot in the Olympics again, though Han Xiao, a table tennis player who chairs the USOPC’s Athletes’ Advisory Council, has signaled that athletes want those who have already qualified to keep their status.
USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland addressed that issue in an email sent to U.S. athletes Tuesday but left open how it would be resolved.
“I wish I had answers to every question out there, but the reality is this decision is unprecedented, and therefore, presents an entirely new process — for you, for the organizers, for the [national governing bodies] and for the USOPC,” Hirshland wrote.
In track and field, only the Olympic marathon trials have been held. In the Feb. 29 event in Atlanta, Aliphine Tuliamuk, Molly Seidel, Sally Kipyego, Abdi Abdirahman, Jacob Riley and three-time Olympian Galen Rupp qualified to represent Team USA.
In aquatics, open water swimmers have already qualified for the Olympics. Jordan Wilimovsky became the first American man to book his ticket to the Games at the qualifying event held in Fukuoka in July. Haley Anderson and Ashley Twichell rounded out Team USA’s open water contingent.
Rick Maese contributed to this report.


Japanese Olympic Committee member breaks with IOC, calls for postponement of Tokyo Games

A member of the Japanese Olympic Committee said Thursday that the International Olympic Committee is “putting athletes at risk” by continuing to plan on the Tokyo Games unfolding as scheduled, despite the global coronavirus pandemic.
Kaori Yamaguchi, a bronze medalist in judo at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, became the first executive committee board member from this year’s host nation to break with the IOC, per reports, in calling for a postponement.
“As far as I can tell from news reports coming out of the U.S. and Europe, I don’t think the situation allows for athletes to continue training as usual,” Yamaguchi told Nikkei.
IOC President Thomas Bach stuck firm Thursday to his stance that, as of now, the Tokyo Olympics will take place from late July through early August.
“Of course we are considering different scenarios,” Bach told the New York Times, “but we are contrary to many other sports organizations or professional leagues in that we are four and a half months away from the Games.”
“The 206 national Olympic committees and the international sports federations expressed that the world in this extremely difficult and concerning situation needs a symbol of hope,” Bach added. “So for us, while not knowing how long this tunnel will be, we would like the Olympic flame to be a light at the end of the tunnel, and to send the message of peace, what we always do, but in this very difficult circumstances a message of hope and community of humankind.”
Some would-be Olympic athletes, though, are wondering how responsible it is for the IOC to hold tight to its schedule when coronavirus-related fears and official restrictions in many countries make training difficult, if not dangerous.
“The IOC wants us to keep risking our health, our family’s health and public health to train every day?” Katerina Stefanidi, who won the 2016 Olympic gold medal in women’s pole vault for Greece, said Tuesday on Twitter. “You are putting us in danger right now, today, not in 4 months.”
Noting that France, where she has been training, is “in complete lockdown,” British heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson said Tuesday in a message posted to Twitter, “The IOC advice ‘encourages athletes to continue to prepare for the Olympic Games as best as they can’ with the Olympics only four months away, but the government legislation is enforcing isolation at home, with tracks, gyms and public spaces closed.
“I feel under pressure to train and keep the same routine, which is impossible.”
Hayley Wickenheiser, a four-time Olympic gold medalist in women’s ice hockey and a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, also criticized the governing body on Tuesday. “I think the IOC insisting this will move ahead, with such conviction, is insensitive and irresponsible given the state of humanity,” Wickenheiser said in a tweet.
The complaints, as well as negative reactions from other athletes, were shared after the IOC released a statement Tuesday in which it said, “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 European Olympic Committees, an umbrella organization for the continent’s national committees, posted a statement of support for the IOC, saying, “In this time of unprecedented disruption to our daily lives caused by the outbreak of COVID-19, our first priority is to ensure the safety of those around us, in particular our families, communities and wider public. We are living through an unpredictable crisis and as such, it is important that we have one policy, expressed by the IOC, and we follow that policy in unison.”
Yamaguchi told Nikkei that she intends to advocate for a postponement when the JOC holds a meeting next week.
“By asking them to train under these conditions, the IOC is opening itself up the criticism that it is not putting athletes first,” she said.
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Several Tokyo 2020 qualifying events rescheduled because of coronavirus concerns

With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics less than six months away, the fast-spreading coronavirus is wreaking havoc with preparations for the Summer Games, prompting several sports to relocate or cancel events originally scheduled for China.
On Wednesday, the Feb. 12-13 World Indoor Track and Field Championships in Nanjing were postponed until 2021 out of concern over the coronavirus.
The decision was made by World Athletics, track and field’s international governing body, which issued a statement that read, in part: “The advice from our medical team, who are in contact with the World Health Organization, is that the spread of the Coronavirus both within China and outside the country is still at a concerning level and no one should be going ahead with any major gathering that can be postponed.”
The unchecked coronavirus has killed 132 and infected more than 6,100, including residents of more than a dozen countries.
With the death toll growing and no vaccine on the horizon, the World Health Organization on Wednesday voiced “grave concern” and is weighing whether to declare “a global health emergency.”
On Monday, the United States’ leading public-health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recommended that travelers avoid all “nonessential” travel to China.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee was said to be studying the CDC recommendation with an eye toward its athletes’ travel. But the organization did not respond to a request to comment about what it is doing to monitor the situation or mitigate danger to its athletes.
Han Xiao, chair of the USOPC’s Athletes’ Advisory Council, said there had been little conversation with prospective U.S. Olympians about coronavirus safeguards. After canvassing several fellow athletes, Han wrote in an email exchange that they would favor any rescheduling that would safeguard their health.
“We are in favor of moving or rescheduling events in order to protect the health of athletes, as long as there is communication to the athletes and the athletes are included in the decision-making process,” wrote Han, a table tennis athlete.
Tokyo, the site of the 2020 Summer Olympics, is nearly 1,600 miles from Wuhan, the central China metropolis that’s the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.
But grave concern over the virus’s spread, both within central China and now overseas, is being felt around the world, particularly since health officials have confirmed it can be transmitted human-to-human rather than simply contracted at the point of origin.
USA Pentathlon CEO Rob Stull, a five-time Olympian in the sport, explained that at this stage, decisions about whether to proceed with Tokyo 2020 qualifying events scheduled for China are being made by each sport’s international governing body, in consultation with health experts.
“I can assure you this: The [International Sports Federations] are taking it very seriously and erring on the side of caution,” Stull said in a telephone interview. “We will put our athletes’ health and safety first. And I feel confident the Olympic movement will seek the guidance of the World Health Organization, the CDCs of the world and the Chinese health ministry, too.”
Last week, the first qualifying event for the Tokyo 2020 boxing competition, originally scheduled for Wuhan in early February, was rescheduled for Amman, Jordan, in early March because of coronavirus fears.
FIBA, basketball’s international governing body, decided to move an upcoming Olympic women’s basketball qualifying tournament involving Britain, China, South Korea and Spain from Foshan, about 600 miles south of Wuhan, to Belgrade, Serbia, for the same reason, according to the BBC.
In women’s soccer, Olympic qualifying Group B stage matches have been moved twice — first from Wuhan to Nanjing, roughly 330 miles away, and now a full continent away to Sydney after the Chinese Football Association withdrew as host amid the outbreak’s advance.
“The safety of all players, officials and fans is of paramount importance to Football Federation Australia and the Asian Football Confederation, and we are confident we will host a successful tournament here in Sydney,” Football Federation Australia chief executive Chris Nikou said in a statement reported by the Guardian.
Australia, China, Taiwan and Thailand are scheduled to compete in the group stage matches in Sydney.
But on Wednesday, China’s state-run news agency, Xinhua, reported that four Chinese players, including star striker Wang Shuang, won’t be able to take part, their travel restricted by an in-home quarantine order. None of the athletes show signs of having developed the illness, the Chinese outlet noted.
Even the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are being affected. The International Ski Federation this week canceled the first Olympic test event for the 2022 Games — a Feb. 15-16 World Cup event that was scheduled for northwest Beijing — because of the virus.
Coronavirus typically affects birds and mammals but causes acute respiratory infection in humans.
The current outbreak is believed to have started at a seafood market in Wuhan that also sold slaughtered and live animals, such as donkeys, pigs, dogs, foxes and snakes. That market has been closed by health officials.
The city of Wuhan, which has 11 million residents (comparable to the population of New York and Los Angeles combined), has been placed under lockdown to contain the spread.
Three-time Olympian Gary Hall Jr., who won 10 swimming medals at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Summer Games and has been a vocal advocate for athletes’ safety, urged an abundance of caution regarding coronavirus.
“The safety and health of the athletes are of foremost importance,” Hall said in a telephone interview. “If there are any precautionary steps that can be taken to put them out of harm’s way, we have to do it.
Hall cited cases in which FINA, swimming’s international governing body, was not aggressive enough in protecting its athletes from environmental hazards — whether excessive heat, pollution or virus.
Several swimmers fell seriously ill after competing in the open-water test event for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games because of pollution in the bay, Hall noted. And a four-time American champion swimmer, Fran Crippen, died during a 2010 open-water World Cup 10K swim in Dubai, held despite dangerously warm temperatures. His death was linked to heat exertion.
“Both of those [instance] were preventable,” Hall noted. “FINA could have said, ‘The water is too polluted in Rio; let’s do it elsewhere.’ But they went ahead anyway and overlooked the health and safety of the athletes, with devastating consequences.”
The coronavirus outbreak is reminiscent of the 2002-03 outbreak of SARS in China — also believed to have started at a live-animal market. SARS, an acute respiratory ailment, led to nearly 800 deaths and infected more than 8,000. It also prompted FIFA to move the 2003 Women’s World Cup from China to the United States on three months’ notice.


Read more on the Long(er) Road to Tokyo

The Tokyo Games have been postponed amid the coronavirus outbreak. As the virus has spread, training sites have closed and athletes have been separated from coaches. Here’s how American Olympians have adjusted their training during the pandemic. Paralympic running: Open water swimming: Diving: Swimming: Read more:

Read more on the Long(er) Road to Tokyo


USA Swimming calls for postponing Tokyo Olympics one year

Hours after U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee officials said they are preparing for the Tokyo Games to go ahead as scheduled this July, USA Swimming, arguably the most influential sport national governing body in the country, called for the Games to be postponed until next year because of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
In an open letter addressed to USOPC chief executive Sarah Hirshland, USA Swimming CEO Tim Hinchey wrote Friday, “The right and responsible thing to do is to prioritize everyone’s health and safety and appropriately recognize the toll this global pandemic is taking on athletic preparations.”
Hinchey concluded by writing, “There are no perfect answers, and this will not be easy; however, it is a solution that provides a concrete path forward and allows all athletes to prepare for a safe and successful Olympic Games in 2021.”
In response, the USOPC released a statement attributed to Hirshland and board chair Susanne Lyons that read, in part:
“The USOPC has complete and total empathy for the athlete community as they manage the terrible stress and anxiety caused by the current lack of certitude regarding the Tokyo Games. We understand that the athletes have concerns about training, qualification and anti-doping controls, and that they want transparency, communication and clarity to the full extent possible.
"The USOPC has made it clear that all athletes should put their health and wellness, and the health and wellness of the greater community, above all else at this unprecedented moment. At the same time, and as it relates to the Games, we have also heard from athletes that they want the Olympic and Paralympic community to be very intentional about the path forward — and to ensure that we aren’t prematurely taking away any athletes’ opportunity to compete in the Olympic and Paralympic Games until we have better clarity.”
Greg Meehan, head coach of the U.S. women’s swimming team and women’s coach at Stanford, said coaches and swimmers supported Hinchey’s statement.
“Swimmers are routine-driven, and training is very much a part of their routine,” Meehan said in a phone interview. “In a lot of ways, the consistency of our schedule is therapeutic. I worry about the stress and anxiousness right now of our best athletes with the uncertainty of where they’re going to be from day to day, knowing that they would potentially have to compete in an Olympics when they haven’t been able to prepare as maybe some others around the world have.
“I think there’s an underlying mental health concern here for our best athletes and it’s put them in a place where postponement makes sense.”
Earlier in the day, Hirshland said on a conference call with reporters that the USOPC has shared some of the concerns that have been expressed by American athletes about competing in Tokyo this summer, adding, “I can assure you there’s no circumstance when the USOPC would send our athletes into harm’s way if we did not believe it was safe.”
The USOPC remarks come as athletes have started to publicly voice their reservations about competing this summer and pressure has increased on the IOC to reconsider holding the Tokyo Games on schedule. One day earlier, a member of the Japanese Olympic Committee became the first executive committee board member to break with the IOC in calling for a postponement. Kaori Yamaguchi, a bronze medalist in judo at the 1988 Olympics, said Thursday that the IOC is “putting athletes at risk.”
Olympic hopefuls from several countries have expressed similar concerns about the safety of a Summer Olympics and have said their training has already been compromised. Earlier in the week, gymnast Colin Van Wicklen became the first athlete vying for a spot on U.S. Olympic team to publicly urge for a postponement, posting on Twitter, “We must put the pressure on the IOC to do the right thing.”
“I don't think it's fair to the athletes who have dedicated their whole life to trying to make an Olympic team to have to deal with this,” Van Wicklen told The Washington Post in a phone interview Thursday. “We deserve to be at our best, to give it our best shot and have the best opportunity to make an Olympic team and have our dreams come true.”
The IOC hasn’t wavered in its intention to stage the Tokyo Games on schedule and has urged athletes to continue training with the July 24 start date in mind. But as cities around the world have experienced heightened restrictions, athletes are having an increasingly difficult time finding the gymnasiums, swimming pools and practice facilities needed for training.
“There are just a lot of mixed statements right now, and that really messes with your head,” Van Wicklen said. “You’re trying to do the best for yourself being safe and stay healthy. You want to listen to what everybody is telling you: Stay inside, don’t go anywhere if you don’t need to. But you also hear: ‘Hey, the Olympics are still happening. Athletes need to prepare.’ ”
The IOC held phone conversations with Olympic stakeholders and issued a communique Tuesday saying, “The IOC encourages all athletes to continue to prepare for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 as best they can.”
Inaki Gomez, a retired Olympic race walker from Canada, called the message “imprudent & reckless.”
“Particularly in countries where lockdown is in effect,” he posted on Twitter. “Message should be self-isolate or limit unnecessary contact, & we can worry about sport once situation has been contained.”
American long-distance runner Kara Goucher, a two-time Olympian, tweeted at the IOC on Thursday night, urging it to postpone. She said in a telephone interview Friday that athletes have been forced into an untenable position.
“The people in charge should be making the right decision for them,” she said. “Right now, they can’t find facilities to train in, they’ve put themselves at risk by going out and training and trying to find places, drug testing has been all but suspended in most countries, competitions are canceled everywhere. And we’re expecting them to stay in tiptop shape. To me, it’s so crazy. And it’s putting money and profits above the health of athletes.”
USOPC officials have been hearing all week of the many challenges American athletes have faced in recent days, but Hirshland said the overall feedback has been varied. “The environment even in different parts of our country is quite different,” she said. “The reaction from people and what they’re feeling is quite different. And we’re seeing that in the feedback we’re getting from the athlete community for certain.”
While some athletes have said training amid the covid-19 outbreak compromises their health and safety, Lyons stressed, “Our No. 1 priority needs to be our health and safety and containment of this virus, period, full stop.
“That should not conflict in any way with the decision someone is making about their training,” she added.
IOC President Thomas Bach participated in a call this week with 220 athlete representatives around the world. Kirsty Coventry, chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, posted a video to Twitter afterward in which she noted that athletes have voiced concerns for health and safety, as well as the uncertainty cast on the Tokyo qualification process.
“We just implore you to keep doing what you’re doing,” said the retired swimmer from Zimbabwe. “We heard that athletes did want to see the Games happen in July, and that’s really promising. But we know the landscape is ever-changing.”
Her summary was not well-received in all corners. Urging an Olympic postponement, Brazilian swimmer Bruno Fratus responded: “I’d urge you to reconsider and consult with some other athletes around the world. Not sure if you’re aware of the many athletes like myself incapable of even training.
“Also, the advice of ‘keep doing what you’re doing’ seems disconnected with reality when we have world leaders daily on television asking people to stay home and isolate ourselves.”
Van Wicklen said he started to realize that holding an Olympics this summer would be unfair as he struggled to find training space this week. He drove from Oklahoma to Houston and back to Oklahoma. When he was at a gym Wednesday, Van Wicklen said, “I was kind of looking around the gym saying: ‘There’s no way I can train at this level, the level that I need to, here. This is not going to work.’ ”
With all competitive events canceled through at least May 10 and his training now compromised, Van Wicklen estimates it will take at least a month to get “even close to where we were before this all started.”
“That leaves us with a month or even maybe less than a month before we have to go try and qualify to an Olympic team,” he said. “That’s not how it should be.”
Emily Giambalvo contributed to this report.


Japan, International Olympic Committee agree to postpone Tokyo Games

Facing heavy global pressure and rising athlete dissent, the International Olympic Committee and Japanese officials sharply reversed course Tuesday and agreed that the Olympics and Paralympics will not take place this summer in Tokyo in the wake of the growing novel coronavirus pandemic. Organizers say they now hope to stage the Games by the summer of 2021.
The Olympics are the biggest event to date scuttled because of the virus, which has now claimed more than 18,000 lives, infected more than 400,000 people on six of the seven continents and upended daily life across the globe.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday proposed a one-year postponement to IOC leadership, including President Thomas Bach. The IOC quickly agreed that the Games would be held about one year after the previously scheduled start date, July 24.
“I have made a proposal of about a year,” Abe said. “President Bach said he agreed 100 percent, and we agreed to hold the Olympics by summer 2021.”
Abe said he and Bach agreed “to cooperate in order to hold the Olympics in the complete form, as a testament to victory over the infection.”
After Abe and Bach spoke on the phone, Bach participated in a teleconference with the 15-member IOC Executive Board to determine whether to accept Abe’s proposal. The board members, spread out across the globe, discussed Abe’s proposal. Meanwhile, the Japanese government publicized it. Within an hour, the Executive Board had made the decision that had become obvious: It accepted.
“Our belief is, sport can make a better world,” IOC Executive Board member Anita L. DeFrantz said in a phone interview. “So we didn’t want sport to make a more sick world.”
“But I feel for the athletes,” added DeFrantz, a member of the 1976 U.S. Olympic rowing team. “So many athletes look to the quadrennial games, and they make plans for life thereafter. And this is so disruptive of the normal course of this. But so is this coronavirus.”
In a joint statement, the IOC and Japan’s Olympic organizing committee said they made the decision “to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community.” Athletes across the world had been calling for the Olympics to be postponed, saying the lack of a decision forced them to continue training at risk to their physical and mental well-being.
The Olympic flame will remain in Japan, and the Olympics still will be labeled Tokyo 2020, even though they will take place in 2021.
“The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present,” the statement said.
Abe called Bach on Tuesday night in Japan to offer his plan. The proposal came a day after the United States joined a global chorus of Olympic governing bodies advocating for a postponement. Some of the countries had vowed not to send athletes if the Games began in July as scheduled.
“In light of the current conditions and for all the athletes, we made a proposal of a postponement of about a year, to hold them securely and safely,” Abe said Tuesday.
Postponing the Games carries massive political, financial and competitive implications. Abe, who has staked extensive political fortune to the success of the Games, said he expects Japan will pull them off.
“As the host country, Japan would like to serve our responsibility thoroughly,” Abe said.
Bach said Sunday it “would still be premature” to decide the fate of the Tokyo Games, and as other major sports events and leagues have suspended operations and canceled play, Olympic officials had resisted calls to alter the Games’ schedule. They spent the past several weeks weighing options, as athletes and sports federations began voicing their concerns. The chorus only grew after Bach sent a letter to Olympic athletes Sunday, acknowledging for the first time that postponement was a possibility but refusing to make a decision for the next four weeks.
The Canadian Olympic Committee said Sunday it would not send its athletes to Tokyo this summer, delivering a devastating blow to the IOC’s hopes to stick to its schedule. Australia’s national committee also urged its athletes to begin preparing for an Olympics in 2021, and Sebastian Coe, the influential head of World Athletics, the international governing body for track and field, called on the IOC to delay the Summer Games by a year. The national Olympic committees of Brazil and Slovenia had called for a one-year postponement, and Norway had balked at sending its athletes to Japan with the current state of the pandemic.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee finally put its weight behind the movement Monday evening, saying that “the path toward postponement is the most promising.” The committee had surveyed 1,780 of its American athletes and found that nearly 7 in 10 did not feel the Olympics could be fairly contested this summer because of health and safety concerns and training disruptions related to the covid-19 outbreak.
The loudest early calls for postponement came from athletes, who faced the closure of training facilities, government restrictions and safety hazards while they continued preparations. Han Xiao, a table tennis player who chairs the USOPC’s Athletes’ Advisory Council, said the process could have been smoother had athletes been listened to earlier, but that ultimately officials made the right decision.
“This will give our athletes more certainty and allow them to plan and prepare accordingly moving forward while taking all necessary precautions to protect themselves and their communities,” Xiao said in an email. “There are still uncertainties we will work to resolve and concerns we will be bringing forward, such as whether athletes and teams who have already qualified will have their quota spots protected.”
USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland sent an email to U.S. athletes after the IOC’s decision, telling them that her heart broke for them and that plans for a new version of the Games would begin immediately.
“This summer was supposed to be a culmination of your hard work and life’s dream, but taking a step back from competition to care for our communities and each other is the right thing to do,” Hirshland said. “Your moment will wait until we can gather again safely. I wish I had answers to every question out there, but the reality is this decision is unprecedented, and therefore, presents an entirely new process — for you, for the organizers, for the [sport national governing bodies] and for the USOPC. Please know we are committed to working with you in the coming days, weeks, and months to address them together.”
The IOC’s stunning decision is without precedent. An Olympics has never been postponed, although several have taken place later on the calendar, including the 2000 Sydney and 1988 Seoul Games, which both took place in late September, and the 1964 Tokyo and the 1968 Mexico City Games, which took place in October. The modern Olympics, which date from 1896, have been canceled three times (1916, 1940 and 1944) because of world wars.
“It certainly is the best of a lot of unattractive possibilities,” said Canadian IOC member Dick Pound, the organization’s longest-serving member. “Cancellation is forever. And going ahead in really dangerous circumstances is just not an option, never was. The IOC is not going to put all these athletes from around the world into a situation where the risks would be disproportionate.”
In the weeks that preceded the IOC’s announcement, major sporting events had been scrapped around the globe, with sports leagues and teams suspending operations while public health authorities continue to grapple with the covid-19 outbreak. But the IOC repeatedly stated its intention to hold the Tokyo Games this summer, even as its torch relay was temporarily aborted and athletes around the world began to publicly express reservations about competing this summer.
The torch lighting ceremony was held in Greece without spectators on March 12
“Abe suggested the torch should remain in Fukushima for now,” Tokyo 2020 President Yoshiro Mori said. “I just called the governor to let him know. He was very pleased.”
These Tokyo Games have been in the works for nearly seven years, with billions of dollars invested in hosting the 19-day sporting extravaganza that every four years brings together the world’s best athletes. As concerns over the rapid spread of the disease grew, pressure mounted in recent weeks for Olympic officials to make a difficult decision that posed massive problems for organizers and athletes alike. As they publicly encouraged athletes to continue training for this summer, they privately discussed holding the Summer Games without spectators or rescheduling the world’s largest sporting event for a later date, possibly in the fall or the summer of 2021
The Olympics draw more than 11,000 athletes and 25,000 journalists from more than 200 countries — plus hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists — running counter to the practice of social distancing advised by public health officials. The Paralympics, scheduled to begin on Aug. 25, were expected to attract 4,400 participants from around the world as well.
Concerns first started to escalate in late February when Pound suggested that a cancellation was possible, saying the IOC likely had only a couple of months to choose a course of action.
“This is the new war, and you have to face it,” he told the Associated Press in February. “In and around that time, I’d say folks are going to have to ask, ‘Is this under sufficient control that we can be confident about going to Tokyo or not?’”
Japan has been among many countries grappling with the disease. There have been 42 deaths related to covid-19 there and more than 1,100 people infected, and the country shut down its schools last month to help slow the spread of the virus.
Across the world, coronavirus began to disrupt athletic schedules, causing the cancellation or postponement of several qualifying events. As gyms and facilities closed down — including two U.S. Olympic training centers — many athletes struggled to find place to train. Still, at an IOC executive board meeting in March, a spokesman said the organization has not even discussed contingency plans and vowed the Games would begin on time.
Bach earlier issued a letter to athletes reiterating that “the IOC is fully committed to a successful Olympics Games Tokyo 2020, starting 24 July,” and urged them to continue training accordingly. “Please go ahead with 'full steam,’” Bach wrote on March 5. He held a series of phone calls with stakeholders 1½ weeks later, sharing the same message.
While Olympic officials often said health and safety are a priority, big money is also at stake. The Olympics are a costly undertaking, and these Summer Games were expected to carry a price tag of $12.6 billion — although some Japanese estimates have suggested the actual costs would ultimately be much higher. Tokyo was awarded hosting rights in September 2013 and has been prepping ever since, building new venues, repairing infrastructure and preparing to host hundreds of thousands of visitors.
The Games also generate big revenue. The IOC, a nonprofit organization, brought in more than $5 billion during the most recent four-year Olympic cycle, nearly three-quarters of which came from broadcast rights. NBC, the rights-holder in the United States, contributes about half of that and thus carries a lot of sway with the IOC. Comcast, NBC’s parent company, has said insurance coverage would ensure the network doesn’t suffer losses, although it would miss out on Olympic-related advertising revenue. The Summer Games are typically a ratings boon during otherwise slow summers. NBC was not eager to pit Olympic broadcasts against NFL or new programming in the fall, making rescheduling a difficult endeavor.
“These are extraordinary and unprecedented times, and we fully support the IOC’s decision to step up its scenario-planning for the Tokyo Olympics,” an NBC spokesman said in a statement Sunday, before the IOC changed course. “We are prepared to stand behind any decision made by the IOC, the Japanese government, and the world health officials with whom they are working regarding the Tokyo Olympics.”
The city of Tokyo signed an 81-page “Host City Contract” with the IOC and the Japanese Olympic Committee in 2013. The contract allows the IOC to cancel for a variety of reasons, including war, boycotts or if “the safety of participants in the Games would be seriously threatened or jeopardized for any reason whatsoever.”
The country’s Olympics minister, Seiko Hashimoto, told lawmakers in early March the contract gave Japanese organizers leeway to postpone the Tokyo Games but only if they were held by the end of 2020.
According to the contract, the IOC was required to give at least 60 days notice to cancel, but the governing body gave no indication publicly in recent weeks it was leaning in that direction. The IOC said that while it intended to follow the advice of the World Health Organization, the words postponement or cancellation were never even uttered at its most recent executive board meeting.
“We’ve made a decision,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams told reporters in early March. “The decision is: The Games go ahead. That was made some time ago. We see no reason to change that decision. All the advice we have at the moment is, the Games are going ahead, from all the competent authorities.”
Experts say a delay will pose logistical problems
Even before Tuesday’s decision, the pandemic had already wreaked havoc on the pre-Olympic schedule, forcing the postponement or cancellation of several international qualifying events. Every single sport was impacted, casting uncertainty on the rigid qualification process for the many athletes still trying to make the Olympics.
Denyer reported from Tokyo.


I'm looking for information about an adenovirus outbreak at the University of Maryland and the related death of Olivia Paregol.

I'm looking for information regarding the adenovirus infection and subsequent death of Olivia Paregol at the College Park campus of the University of Maryland. I'm interested in how and when the university administration became aware of a possible outbreak and what steps were taken to inform vulnerable students and their parents of the risk. Details about other students' affected by the virus are relevant.  Administrative repercussions and actions and any steps taken to mitigate and prevent the spread of adenovirus also are relevant. Do not include any information directly related to students.

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Allergies, rashes and sinus headaches: U-Md. professors have been dealing with mold for years

lauren.lumpkin@washpost.com

Thurka Sangaramoorthy, a medical anthropologist and associate professor at the University of Maryland’s flagship campus, had to throw away her furniture, her collection of about 1,000 books, invaluable documents and personal mementos collected since she started teaching at the school in 2012.
The reason? A combination of mold, mildew and moisture that have plagued her office in Woods Hall, which houses the university’s anthropology department on the College Park campus, Sangaramoorthy said.
“Some of those [items] were really near and dear to me,” she said. The expensive regalia she wore when she graduated with her PhD was also destroyed by mold. “I consider my office to be a complete loss.”
Fifteen professors in U-Md.’s anthropology department have battled mold, and the health complications that come with it, for years, said department chair Paul Shackel. He started keeping a log of mold-related episodes in 2015.
“It affects teaching, it affects the morale of people, and people are kind of discouraged because this has been going on for a while,” Shackel said. “The university is taking steps, but the steps, I don’t think, are big enough.”
Complaints about mold in the academic building have a familiar ring: A year ago, nearly 600 students were displaced from their on-campus housing at U-Md. because of a mold outbreak — an outbreak that sparked criticism of the university’s administration.
Amid the mold infestation, dozens of students developed adenovirus infections, and an 18-year-old freshman died of complications from the virus. Mold does not cause adenovirus infections but can set the stage for other health problems. The director of the university health center, in emails to administrators last year, acknowledged that “mold can cause respiratory irritation that may increase susceptibility of any viral infection.”
Professors in the anthropology department say they regularly carry wipes to clean mold from the walls and furniture in their offices. Some try their best to avoid their offices, opting to work from home.
U-Md. in recent years has spent nearly $500,000 on efforts to control moisture in Woods Hall, including waterproofing, dehumidifiers, window sealing and a new drainage system, university spokeswoman Katie Lawson said in an email.
“We care deeply for the well-being of our community, and we are working closely with faculty members in Woods Hall on interim measures and permanent solutions to address moisture control,” Lawson said. “We are currently finalizing a plan to relocate faculty offices.”
Facilities Management, the department that oversees campus infrastructure and repairs, said in a statement that it has installed rain guards and provided mold remediation services.
But the issues persist, faculty members say.
The anthropology department’s location in the basement of Woods Hall makes it prone to humidity. Mold thrives in damp conditions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Jen Shaffer, an assistant professor in the anthropology department, said she tries to stay away from her office. She has offered to hold Skype meetings with students while she works at home.
“I feel bad because I prefer a face-to-face meeting,” Shaffer said. “I feel kind of nervous with students coming in and out of my office. I don’t know what their medical histories are, and it could be potentially dangerous.”
Sangaramoorthy also prefers to work at home. She said she reconfigured her teaching schedule this semester to limit her time on campus to two days a week.
She and other faculty have experienced health-related issues. Shackel developed skin rashes. For Shaffer, it’s her sinuses.
“I know when I walk into the building, I can start to feel my sinuses clog up,” Shaffer said. “Overall, my eyes get all gluey, and you just get this pressure building up in your head.”
Shackel, upon visiting a dermatologist three years ago, was prescribed a steroid cream. Only recently did he consider his issues could be attributed to the mold growing in his department.
Sangaramoorthy, who said she had never experienced allergies before coming to U-Md., watched as skin peeled from her fingers when she tried to clean the mold in her office. Her skin got so sensitive it would puff up when she touched it.
She went to an allergist who indicated the associate professor’s skin condition was the “cumulative effect of years of being exposed” to mold, Sangaramoorthy said.
Woods Hall is one of the older buildings on the College Park campus. It was built in 1948, according to the university’s website.
The academic building is scheduled to undergo renovations at some point between 2021 and 2030, according to the campus facilities master plan. The document doesn’t provide information on what those renovations will include.
In 2014, Facilities Management replaced drywall and caulked window sills with waterproof sealant to address moisture problems, according to a statement from the facilities department. Floor fans and dehumidifiers were installed and more insulation work was done in 2016 and 2017.
Facilities Management continues to monitor mold growth in the building.
In February, the student newspaper, the Diamondback, reported that U-Md. will renovate 16 dorms to prevent more outbreaks.
Meanwhile, professors in the basement of Woods Hall will do what they can to stay healthy this school year.
“I’m owed a very sort of safe workplace environment where I can actually feel comfortable coming to,” Sangaramoorthy said. She just returned from a year-long sabbatical. She said her symptoms disappeared while she was away.
“The minute I start having issues again, I’m gone.”
lauren.lumpkin@washpost.com