ATHENS: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is putting the health of elite athletes at risk by telling them to continue training for the Tokyo 2020 Games as the coronavirus rages, reigning Olympic pole vault champion Katerina Stefanidi told Reuters yesterday.
“There is no postponement, no cancellation. But it (the IOC) is putting us at risk,” the Greek said.
“We all want Tokyo to happen but what is the Plan B if it does not happen? Knowing about a possible option has a major effect on my training because I may be taking risks now that I would not take if I knew there was also the possibility of a Plan B,” Stefanidi added.
“We have to decide whether to risk our health and continue training in the current environment.”
The IOC will hold a call with its National Olympic Committees today, and had earlier in the day repeated its commitment to stage the Games in the Japanese capital from July 24 to Aug. 9, urging athletes to continue with their training despite mounting speculation about the impact of the virus on the Games.
“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,” it said in a statement. “Any speculation at this moment would be counter-productive,” it added.
Greek Stefanidi, a member of World Athletics athletes’ commission, was unimpressed.
“From January until now the situation has deteriorated dramatically and in the same period the IOC has repeated the same things,” she said.
Stefanidi said the different levels of training had also created a potentially unfair advantage for some athletes. She said some countries had shut all facilities, while in some other, like the US or Sweden, some facilities were still open.
&uuid=(email))