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The NCAA has joined most American sports leagues in cancelling events, wiping out winter championships as well as spring events in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thursday’s announcement includes the cancellation of the Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships due to be held later in March. It also halts the Division II Championships currently underway in Geneva, Ohio.
“Today, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors canceled the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, as well as remaining winter and spring NCAA championships,” read an NCAA statement. “This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during the academic year giving ongoing decisions by other entities.”
NCAA cancels remaining winter and spring championships: https://t.co/qzKAS4McEI pic.twitter.com/G6XreZx35E
— NCAA (@NCAA) March 12, 2020
The headliner is March Madness for the men’s and women’s tournaments. Wednesday, conferences like the Ivy League that had suspended spring sports (amid closing campuses) were leaving it up to schools as to whether they would be able to participate in winter championships. The Big Ten, minutes before the NCAA’s announcement, halted the spring season at its member institutions and barred its athletes from competing in the winter championships. USA Swimming on Thursday also put a 30-day halt on events.
The NCAA cancellation was one of many this day, which included the cancellation of the Danish Open and Olympic Trials, the Swim Open, Stockholm, a Norwegian lockdown that cancelled sport, FINA postponements and cancellations, the cancellation of French Junior Championships and a plea from Italy to halt the Olympic Games to avoid Tokyo 2020 going ahead in July when many of the world’s best swimmers may no longer be in the kind of shape they would have been but for the pandemic and its knock-on effects.
An Extraordinary Day In Swimming History:
- 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
And that followed this:
- COVID-19 Leads Argentina to Cancel South American Championships
- Ivy League To Cancel All Athletic Events Through Remainder Of Spring
Guidance on Water and Coronavirus
Hate this!
Lori McCloud Ethan McCloud
Jada Thompson White- Noooo!!
But viruses cannot survive in chlorinated
water! How incredibly dumb, hysterical,
not to mention un-caring of student athletes,
for NCAA officials to cancel NCAA swimming, or any
other NCAA championship, on account of a
novel seasonal flu that can be essentially
‘treated’ by mass transmission, and where
only 50 (octegenerians) Americans have died
from this novel flu strain, while hundreds of
thousands of Americans have died this year
from generic seasonal flu. In the future, NCAA
officials in high ranks, should be required to
take not only an IQ test, but also an hysteria
test, and pass them, prior to serving in an NCAA
governance position.
? I am heartbroken for our sweet friends that qualified for this event. The ones that are freshman. And the ones that have qualified for the first time that are Seniors. I hate that this is over for them!
Sean Sean M. Tedesco
That suxs but given the circumstances understandable
Karleen Dawson here is your answer. Not good news for seniors.☹️
Darl Bonnema nope
Katrina Schlicht time toco e home ?
Sharon Brian we are coming home early and with Jemma Schlicht!
Deanna Abrego
So sad for all those athletes that have worked hard all season… and with swimming it literally is 6 months
This is ridiculous!!
So devastating!!
heart-breaking for all the athletes!
Brutal.
So sad.
This is truly unsettling.
Such a hard place to make feel so sad to all the swimmers ?
I really feel for the athletes, and know how difficult it is to have worked for months (or years!) for something like this and to have it taken away. But it is the right choice, given the risk. It isn’t the athletes who are really at risk, but the lives of their parents and others in the community.
not fun ….but very good
Several states have cancelled their YMCA State Championship meets. My daughter worked hard to qualify as an 8 yr old. It was her first time qualifying. I just hope her desire to go after her goals isn’t diminished by this.
Karen Tejes-Selby she’s 8 she’ll be ok!!!
So very sorry for all the hard work and dreams that have been dashed by this cancellation!! Peyton Kondis, you are a rock star!! We were really looking forward to sharing this experience with you!! Know that you are loved and admired and can hold onto all your accomplishments and experiences with Swimming forever! God bless!! You have a lot to be proud of!!