Coronavirus, Tokyo 2020: European committees 'yes to guidelines'

The presidents of the European Olympic committees have just unanimously voted on a motion approving the guidelines expressed by the IOC yesterday on the emergence of the coronavirus and its impact on the future, starting with the Tokyo Olympics. ANSA learns it from a qualified IOC source.

"This is an exceptional situation, which requires exceptional solutions. There is no ideal solution": thus the IOC responded, through its spokesperson, to the protests of several international Olympic athletes after the invitation from Lausanne to go ahead in the preparation in view of Tokyo 2020. "The IOC - underlines the Olympic Committee is committed to finding a solution with the least negative impact for athletes, while protecting the integrity of the competition and the health of the athletes."

Plans for the continuation of the Tokyo Games are "insensitive and irresponsible": so Hayley Wickenheiser, a former Canadian athlete, 4 times Olympic gold in ice hockey, and a member of the International Olympic Committee representing the athletes. "This crisis is even bigger than the Olympics," tweeted Wickenheiser. "We don't know what will happen in the next 24 hours, let alone in the next three months. From the athlete's point of view, I can only imagine and try to empathize with the anxiety and pain that athletes are feeling right now. Athletes "Wickenheiser continued," they cannot train, participants cannot travel. Sponsors and marketing experts cannot operate with the right degree of sensitivity. I think the IOC insisting that this will continue, with this conviction, is insensitive and irresponsible given the state of humanity ". Wickenheiser's words are a distance from the statements made yesterday by the president of the IOC himself, of which the former Canadian athlete is a part, through the mouth of President Thomas Bach he addressed the athletes to "continue the preparation for the Tokyo Olympics "why" with over four months, it is not necessary to make drastic decisions now ". Words echoed by the assurances of the Japanese government that the nation is still planning the "full" organization of the Games, despite the coronavirus pandemic.