“In my very humble option, I really do feel the Olympics should be canceled,” Busch, USA Swimming’s National Team director at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, told columnist Greg Hansen. “And I think the USOC should be the leader on that.”
Photo Courtesy: Robert Stanton/USA Today Sports Images
“If they did postpone it, it would take a lot of pressure off this situation right now,” – Bob Bowman
“In my very humble option, I really do feel the Olympics should be canceled,” – Frank Busch
The postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to the coronavirus pandemic is looking increasingly likely. As athletes try to secure their short-term training and long-term health, moving the Games to 2021 would go a long way toward easing the pain, argues Associated Press columnist Paul Newberry.
It isn’t a decision to be taken lightly, with the only three Olympic postponements in history (1916, 1940 and 1944) occurring due to world wars. But with athletes facing the same fears as anyone else in light of the deadly COVID-19 on top of attempting to maintain elite training and scrape together already perilous financial livings as athletes, moving the games would help relieve stress.
“If they did postpone it, it would take a lot of pressure off this situation right now,” swimming coach Bob Bowman told the AP. “People are scrambling. Most people are not training. If we had a little more time to get ready, that would probably be a good thing.”
Frank Busch took a similar stance in a conversation with tuscon.com.
The IOC has tried to put off a decision on the 2020 Olympics, set to start July 24, trying not to make “any drastic decisions” in light of the monumental investment in the event made by Japan. But with a pair of international soccer tournaments, the European Championships and Copa America, being postponed until 2021, there is precedent for the switch.
“We are in solidarity with the whole of society to do everything to contain the virus,” the IOC said in a statement Tuesday following meetings. “The situation around the COVID-19 virus is also impacting the preparations for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and is changing day by day.”
The challenge is particularly pronounced in a sport like swimming, where intensive training is required to even qualify for the Games. A decision on the 2020 Olympics would ripple through each country’s various qualification meets, almost all of which have been postponed or cancelled. With delicate training schedules sketched out months or years in advance, the idea that a passable Olympics could be held at a moment’s notice is tough to swallow.
“This is the time when you’re hoping to see progression from one meet to the next, something that’s closer to the final product,” Bowman said. “You’re kind of testing some things like race strategy. You want to see these little rehearsals for the big show. … It’s probably more important than the training, to be honest. That’s what makes the training so meaningful, when you’re able to learn something at the last meet and then go work on it.”
Busch understands the appeal of an Olympics in 2021, particularly given the training disruptions for swimmers who are battling to keep themselves safe from a deadly virus much less find places to train at their peak.
“It just seems to me we’re putting so much pressure on the athletes, coaches and facilities,” Busch said. “I don’t see any leadership here in any way, shape or form. Given the health issues before us, the Olympics are such a small thing in the world right now.”
Extraordinary Events In Swimming History:
Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Italy, France, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Brazil and Japan have all had major meets affected by the coronavirus pandemic, while in the United States, the NCAA Championships have been cancelled and USA Swimming has imposed a 30-day suspension on all events, while Canada is considering what to do about its Olympic trials early next month. In Italy, where swimmers are struggling to maintain normal routines, can’t get to practice and in some cases find pool time, a #stopolympics campaign was launched by the Nuoto website calling on solidarity among swimming nations to recognise that Olympic preparations have been blown off course and that it would be in the interests of fairness to postpone the Games for a time of calm beyond the coronavirus crisis.
Our coverage:
- 600 Chinese Olympic Athletes Training In Coronavirus Containment In Paris Up To Departure For Tokyo 2020, Claims IOC Member
- End-April German Championships In Doubt As Olympic Bosses Quarrel In Public Over Fate Of Tokyo 2020
- The Week That Was: Coronavirus Causes Worldwide Shutdown
- Commentary: 2020 Spring Season Cancelled by NCAA is NOT the New Normal
- The Soak: Russian Trials to be Held, But Without Spectators: British Swimming CEO Buckner Pays Tribute
- Katie Drabot, NCAA Swimmers Trying To Find Places to Train, Sleep After Campuses Close
- Maddy Gough Forced To Train In Isolation After Rushing Home From High Altitude Training Camp in Spain
- Postcards From Pellegrini & Co In Coronavirus Containment: “We’ll Be Back Stronger Than Ever”
- New Zealand Marches On In March Madness Of Cancellations: Olympic Trials To Be Held Without Spectators
- NCAA Swimming Cancellation: ‘Powerful Stuff When You Have to Mess With Kids’ Dreams’
- Brown Water Polo’s Felix Mercado on Cancellation of Ivy Athletics: Doomsday for Our Season
- The Soak – Coronavirus Pandemic Causes 14th African Swimming Championships To Be Postponed
- Eve Thomas, Michael Pickett and Lea Muellner On Mad Dash Home To New Zealand Olympic Trials To Beat Quarantine Deadline
- Great Britain Olympic Swimming Trials Set To Be Postponed As UK U-Turns On Mass Gatherings & Sports Events
- France Postpones Olympic Swimming Trials & Nationals Until June & All Other National Events Are Off
- Stars React, ‘Restrategize’ after Postponement of Canadian Olympic Trials
- NCAA Agrees Eligibility Relief Appropriate For Spring Sports; Winter Sports Still Uncertain
- Swimming Canada Officially Postpones Olympic Trials, Paralympic Trials
- US Masters Swimming Cancels Spring National Championship
- USA Diving Suspends All Activities For 30 Days
- Ranomi Kromowidjojo Hails Healthcare Heroes & Urges Fans To Fight Coronavirus With Strict Hygiene Protocol
- European Aquatics Championships Swim Into Choppy Waters As Hungary Declares State Of Emergency & Locks Borders
- Dutch Olympic-Qualifier Swim Cups Cancelled In Coronavirus Lockdown
- The Soak – Swim Ireland Announces Postponement Of Olympic Trials Until End Of June
- Swimming Australia Cancels Australian Championships And Age Nationals to Combat Coronaavirus
- Swimming Canada Axes Open Water Championships, Eyes Late June for Pool Trials
- Spanish Swimming Nationals And Olympic Trials Latest In Wave Of Coronavirus Cancellations
- NCAA Cancels Winter Championships, Including Swimming And Diving
- USA Swimming to Cancel All Events For 30 Days Amidst Coronavirus Pandemic
- France Cancels Junior Nationals On Extraordinary Day In Swim History Ahead of Crunch Decision On Olympic Trials
- Scandinavian Swimming Shutdown: Danish Open, Olympic Trials, Swim Open Stockholm Off; Pools Shut & Norway Bans All Sport Events In Coronavirus Lockdown
- FINA Confirms Postponement of the Men’s Olympic Water Polo Qualifier in Rotterdam
- FINA Cancels/ Postpones Swathe Of Aquatic Events Due To Coronavirus Pandemic, Some Decisions Pending
- Peaty, Anderson & Co Set For Edinburgh Against The Backdrop Of Coronavirus
- Italian Struggle To Find Swimming Pools To Train In Sparks #stopolympics Coronavirus Lockdown Campaign
- The Soak – WADA Warns Of Unintended Consequences As Rodchenkov Act On Whistleblowing Takes Step Closer To Becoming U.S. Law
- British Olympic Association & Athletes Reach Agreement Over IOC Rule
- WHO Set To Give ‘Basic Thoughts’ On Olympics & Coronavirus As Unrepentant Tokyo 2020 Board Member Sounds “Warning Bell”
- NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships Now Closed to Spectators
- COVID-19 Leads Argentina to Cancel South American Championships
- Ivy League To Cancel All Athletic Events Through Remainder Of Spring
- Coronavirus Causes China Olympic Swimming Trials Postponement
- Italy Cancels Olympic Swim Trials & Wave Of Other Aquatic Championships In Coronavirus Lockdown
Guidance on Water and Coronavirus
Diego López
USOC needs to take the lead and postpone Trials – seriously what is the IOC waiting to decide? There is no way that any sport or the world will be ready in July – except maybe open water swimming ?!
Most sensible decision….
Jordy Brunt Tayla Brunt
Let’s change the 2021 World Championships to the Olympic Games. Track and Field could do the same thing. This would allow athletes to plan and prepare properly assuming the virus crisis passes.