The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics (initially scheduled from July 24 to August 9) is no longer a taboo word in the mysteries of the International Olympic Committee. After an executive commission by videoconference, Sunday evening, Thomas Bach, the IOC President, repeated that the cancellation of the Tokyo Games is not "on the program" but officially half-opened the door to offbeat Olympics . Fully aware of the threat and fears associated with the Covid-19 pandemic: “Human lives have priority over everything, including hosting the Games. The IOC wants to be part of the solution (…) that the Olympic flame be there to show us the end of this obscure tunnel whose length we do not know but which we all cross together. "
Pressures from the sports world
Canada, via a joint communiqué from its Olympic and Paralympic Committees, said it had "made the difficult decision not to send teams" and suggested that they be postponed for a year, registering as the first country to make the decision to do not send athletes to Tokyo in the event that the Games take place there as planned this summer. In the aftermath, the officials of the Australian and Polish Olympic Committee pleaded for 2021. In Germany, the country of Thomas Bach, the IOC president, voices have been raised for several days to call for the postponement of the Games. Max Hartung, fencer, leader of the German Athletes' Commission, assured on ZDF: “I made the decision not to participate in the Tokyo Games. I hope that many athletes will do the same and force the IOC to submit. "The Tokyo 2020 Olympics must be postponed, to be sure they are not the dirtiest games in history," said Travis Tagart, the powerful president of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (known to be the one who brought down Lance Armstrong) to a German channel. The American athletics and swimming federations called for the postponement. Like the French swimming federation.
The organizational puzzle
Canada, via a joint communiqué from its Olympic and Paralympic Committees, said it had "made the difficult decision not to send teams" and suggested that they be postponed for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, registering as the first country to make the decision not to send athletes to Tokyo if the Games are held there as planned this summer. In the aftermath, the officials of the Australian and Polish Olympic Committee pleaded for 2021. In Germany, country of Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, voices have been raised for several days to call for the postponement of the Games. Max Hartung, fencer, leader of the German Athletes' Commission assured on ZDF: “I made the decision not to participate in the Tokyo Games. I hope that many athletes will do the same and force the IOC to submit. "The Tokyo 2020 Olympics must be postponed, to be sure they are not the dirtiest games in history," said Travis Tagart, the powerful president of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (known to be the one who brought Lance Armstrong) to a German TV station. The powerful American athletics and swimming federations called for the postponement. Like the French swimming federation.
The three deferral options
Fall 2020 is the preferred solution. For its flexibility. The dynamic is not broken. The event remains delivered and contested in the year initially planned. The temperature and humidity would be lower (the marathon and walking events were, in the initial program, relocated to Sapporo in order to limit the difficulty for the athletes). The Olympic sports calendars would not be affected. The qualification tests or solutions should be able to spread out and be organized (57% of the athletes are currently qualified for Tokyo). It is the least expensive fallback solution. If this would offer a nod to the 1964 Games that Tokyo had organized from October 10 to 24, it would not be without drawbacks, the traffic jam promising to be at the rendezvous of this box with the delays hoped for by many sports (football, tennis, cycling, etc.) at their peak or the resumption of certain championships, such as the NBA. At the same time, a place should be found for the Paralympic Games (scheduled from August 25 to September 6). And this solution could suffer from typhoons. The Rugby World Cup had, last fall, been forced to cancel several games. More delicate, finally, this option relates to the Covid-19 pandemic itself which may not be completely eradicated by this date.
If the Olympics were postponed until the summer of 2021, the second option under study, the organization would have to contend with calendars for Olympic sports which have long planted major events but which could fade away ( the World Championships in athletics from August 6 to 15 in Eugene, in the United States could be postponed to 2022; the world swimming championships from July 16 to August 1, in ... Fukuoka in Japan). The major questions would then revolve around the consequences of the immobilization of the Olympic Village and other buildings dedicated to the Olympic Games. As will be the case for the Paris Olympics in 2024, the Olympic Village must, after the flame goes out, quickly turn into accommodation (11,000 in Tokyo).
Last option, summer 2022. A box which would not suffer from competition with the Football World Cup, organized in Qatar (November 21-December 18). “2022 would be more comfortable. We would include the Tokyo Summer Games (after) the Winter Games (Beijing), it would be a kind of festive Olympic year ", poses Carl Lewis, the former God of the stadium (10 Olympic medals, including 9 Golden). Summer and winter Olympic Games coexisted in the calendar until the 1992 Olympic Games. That year, Albertville and Barcelona had seen the flame burn. Then, the alternation had been set up. The negative points, for the organizers, would be crystallized on the long gel of the sites. As for athletes, on the fragile scale of a career, two years represent an unknown world. A blank page. Anxiety. The entire orchestration of the qualification phases should be thoroughly overhauled, some athletes, reached by the age limit could find themselves "out of the Games". 2022, a colossal challenge, extremely expensive. And Paris 2024, in this domino game, would find itself sandwiched between these Olympic Games in Tokyo and those in Los Angeles (2028)…
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