By Steve Keating and Amy Tennery
(Reuters) – USA Swimming called on Friday for the Tokyo 2020 Games to be postponed for a year, hours after the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said athletes should continue their preparations amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The heavily decorated swimming program expressed its concerns in a letter to the USOPC, joining a chorus of growing international concern and calls to have the Olympics rescheduled.
“We have watched our athletes’ worlds be turned upside down,” USA Swimming CEO Tim Hinchey wrote.
“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.”
The outbreak has infected over 250,000 people and killed more than 10,000, bringing global sport to a virtual standstill.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has pressed on during the health crisis, saying the July 24-Aug. 9 spectacle will go ahead as scheduled.
The USOPC has so far backed the IOC’s position and said it will continue to do so as long it is satisfied health and safety is not compromised, telling athletes to continue to train as long as they can do so in a safe environment.
USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland said on Friday, prior to the USA Swimming statement, that athletes should continue to prepare for the Games while taking precautions.
“We are very clearly encouraging everyone in our community to put their safety and the safety of those in their communities and those around them first, following the guidance of local health officials above and beyond anything else,” Hirshland said in a conference call following a USOPC board meeting.
“We’re also asking athletes if it is available to them and in a safe and in an appropriate environment, based on local health official guidance, to continue to do what they can to prepare themselves for competition.”
Hirshland said the training schedules of athletes had been significantly disrupted, but the USOPC was asking them to be “creative and nimble”.
Underscoring the difficulty athletes face in finding safe and suitable facilities, Hirshland confirmed that both USOPC training centres, including the one where its headquarters is located in Colorado Springs, have been closed by the outbreak.
“A number of athletes have left the training centre because they are not able to train there and to go and spend time with their loved ones,” said Hirshland.
“We are certainly enormously supportive of everyone finding support structure and infrastructure where they feel safe.”
SIGNIFICANT DISRUPTION
Hirshland conceded the outbreak has caused significant disruption to Olympic qualifying events, which she said was likely to continue.
The U.S. swimming (June 21-28), gymnastics (June 25-28) and track and field (June 21-28) trials have so far not been impacted, but many others including wrestling, rowing, canoe and shooting have been postponed.
“Our teams are working very hard to partner with each sport and national governing body and the athletes from those sports to determine how to adapt team selection and selection criteria so we are prepared for a variety of potential outcomes,” said Hirshland.
The USOPC said it has been in almost constant contact with the IOC and that so far no athletes had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.
As with most sports impacted by the coronavirus, the USOPC is running through various scenarios.
So far no specific deadline for making a decision on whether or not to take part in the Tokyo Games has been put in place and the USOPC said it will take guidance from the medical community.
“We are trying to be as prepared as we can be for any variety of potential outcomes,” said Hirshland. “We are focused on Tokyo 2020 and will continue to be. As long as that possibility stays ahead of us we will do everything we can to not give up on our athletes…
“Our priority, and frankly we view it as our obligation to the athletes we serve, is to be ready if there is an opportunity for them.
“We are not going to be the reason they don’t have that opportunity. We will be there and we will be ready.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York and Steve Keating in Toronto. Editing by Christian Radnedge and Toby Davis)
