TORONTO/TOKYO (Reuters) – Canada ended up being the first nation to boycott the Tokyo Games due to the coronavirus pandemic and Australia informed its athletes to get ready for an Olympics next year as Japan and the IOC flagged the possibility of a postponement for the first time.
A passersby, wearing a face mask due to the outbreak of the coronavirus illness (COVID-19), strolls past a screen counting down the days to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan March 23,2020 REUTERS/Issei Kato
Opposition to holding the Games in July rose greatly over the weekend with significant stakeholders such as U.S. Track and Field and UK Sports, in addition to some national Olympic committees, requiring a delay since of the pandemic.
Canada’s Olympic and Paralympic Committees raised the ante substantially, however, when they stated they would not be sending out professional athletes to Tokyo if the Games went ahead as set up.
Under mounting pressure to hold off the Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Japanese government had on Sunday and Monday had only partly moved their position that the Games would go ahead as prepared.
Martin Richard, communications chief for the Canadian Paralympic Committee, said the Canadians had been watching for a choice from the IOC on Sunday about postponing the Games and chose to withdraw when none came.
” The world is dealing with a crisis and this is more important than any other sport event,” Richard informed Reuters from Ottawa.
” We chose that was the ideal thing to do.”
Richard said for Paralympic professional athletes, a few of whom had underlying conditions, it would be dangerous to expose them if the v