KOLKATA (India): Canada and Australia Olympic Committees have decided not to send athletes to the 2020 Olympic Games because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The 2020 Olympics are due to open in Tokyo on July 24, but with coronavirus sweeping the world, there is growing concern that the Games will be either postponed or even cancelled.
Since the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896, the only reason that a Games has been cancelled is because of the world wars.
But both the Olympic committees have are called for the Games to be postponed until 2021.
“While we recognize the inherent complexities around a postponement, nothing is more important than the health and safety of our athletes and the world community,” the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee said in a joint statement Sunday. “This is not solely about athlete health — it is about public health.”
‘Australian Olympic team could not be assembled’
The Australian Olympic Committee’s (AOC) executive board met by teleconference on Monday and unanimously agreed that an Australian Olympic team could not be assembled given the changing circumstances across the world, the committee said in a statement.
The committee also said “our athletes now need to prioritise their own health and of those around them, and to be able to return to the families.”
“It’s clear the Games can’t be held in July,” said Ian Chesterman, Australian Team Chef de Mission for Tokyo. “Our athletes have been magnificent in their positive attitude to training and preparing, but the stress and uncertainty has been extremely challenging for them.”
The outbreak of World War I saw the cancellation of the 1916 Games which were slated for Berlin while World War II accounted for Sapporo (winter) and Tokyo (summer) in 1940, and Cortina d’Ampezzo (winter) and London (summer) in 1944.
