Olympic Leaders Set Deadline for a Decision on the Summer Games

Christian Taylor, a two-time defending gold medalist in the Olympic triple jump and the leader of the Athletics Association, a labor group that provides a greater voice to the world’s track and field athletes, also said that four weeks was too long to wait. His group has been conducting a survey of its members and has received 4,000 responses. Over all, 72 percent said the Olympics should not go on as planned, and 78 percent voted in favor of a postponement. In addition, 87 percent said their training had been compromised.

“I know there are many pieces to the puzzle,” Taylor said. “This is bigger. It’s bigger than a competition. At some point you have to bite the bullet.”

For weeks, Olympic leaders had been steadfast in resolving to persevere with the Games despite the coronavirus pandemic and the growing restrictions athletes are facing on training as lockdowns are announced in their home countries.

In recent days, however, pressure has grown for the I.O.C. to postpone the Games or, at the very least, announce a timeline for a decision.

Norway’s Olympic committee, in a statement on Friday, became the first to state a clear preference for the Games to be delayed until the global pandemic can be brought under control. The Brazilian Olympic committee on Saturday endorsed postponing the Games until 2021.

In the United States, whose companies significantly fund the Olympics, U.S.A. Swimming and U.S.A. Track Field, the governing bodies for those sports, have called for a one-year delay. Together, those sports typically account for most of the United States’ medals.

An athletes’ rebellion has also been brewing. Several have spoken out recently, notably Hayley Wickenheiser, a member of the I.O.C.’s athletes’ commission. Wickenheiser, a doctor and five-time Olympian, described efforts to press on with plans for the Games amid a global health crisis as “insensitive and irresponsible.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/sports/olympics/summer-olympics-tokyo-postpone.html