OT: Canada and Australia backing out of Olympics
After several national Olympic committees (and sport-specific governing bodies) began urging the IOC to postpone the Tokyo Olympics - looks like a number of countries are making the decision to not participate on their own:
Canada statement here is most direct, Australia here is a bit less definitive in their statement, but by advising their athletes to begin preparing for 2021 - implies their decision.
As of yesterday - the IOC had set a 4-week timeline to make a decision on postponement - but as more countries make a decision - seems this is the inevitable outcome.
Probably the right decision at this point - while things hopefully clear up by summertime - qualifying/trial events for many teams are on a much nearer horizon.
March 22nd, 2020 at 11:13 PM ^
Yeah - the logistics are impossible at this point. April - June was supposed to be Trials season for many sports.
March 22nd, 2020 at 11:17 PM ^
Exactly - and for sports like track and field, not having the meets (collegiate, professional, etc.) which enable people to even qualify for the trials presents an additional challenge.
March 22nd, 2020 at 11:18 PM ^
Yeah, if others and especially the US and China follow suit then I'm sure the games wouldn't want to lose that much potential revenue
March 23rd, 2020 at 12:17 AM ^
China won’t back out. Their athlete factories probably never stopped.
March 23rd, 2020 at 10:37 AM ^
Seriously. I've been around the block enough times to not be shocked by these sorts of views-but I do remain saddened. You should get out more. Seriously.
March 23rd, 2020 at 12:48 PM ^
Just not right now. Stay inside for a while,
March 23rd, 2020 at 12:33 AM ^
The US should back out, the IOC is just a more corrupt NCAA. They make Jim Delaney look like Abe Lincoln
March 22nd, 2020 at 11:36 PM ^
Smart. It’s not fair to the athletes and it’s a dumb idea to do it.
March 22nd, 2020 at 11:39 PM ^
The heat and sunlight will do a number on viruses as soon as it warms up, which is hopefully soon.
March 23rd, 2020 at 12:20 AM ^
Heat and sunlight are doing little to stop the virus in other countries. This isn't the flu and Trump isn't a scientist. Quite the opposite, in fact.
March 23rd, 2020 at 12:53 AM ^
Nice tangent on unrelate topics.
Panic is the biggest threat. Collapse the economy and you will see a hundred million Americans suffering.
Panic is not, in fact, the biggest threat at the moment.
And every other president has been?
No. The point is that most other presidents listened followed the advice the scientists, as Obama did during the other pandemics. Trump just flatly makes things up and contradicts the scientists, who have been warning about this pandemic for a long time. The CDC never told him the virus will go away with warm weather and just magically disappear without Americans having take strong safety measures. Scientists also warned him not to eliminate the U.S. pandemic office, which he did. He contradicts science nearly every day. That's the point. He pretends he knows more than the experts. By flatly contradicting the CDC and other experts, and by waiting weeks to do something about the crisis, he's endangering god knows how many lives.
More than 1000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Florida where the average temperature has been in the mid-80s for weeks now, but by all means keep spreading bullshit.
March 23rd, 2020 at 10:26 AM ^
You need to stop making Fox & Friends your sole source of truth. There is no evidence whatsoever that says heat will kill this virus, or even slow it down.
March 23rd, 2020 at 11:03 AM ^
If people haven’t realized the shortcomings around a certain party’s leadership yet, they are lost. 1991 recession, Iraq war, 2008 Recession, on and on. Ignoring warnings pre 9/11, ignoring warnings in 2020.
And don’t get me started on Democrats, don’t like them much either, but they are better at running things
I personally despise both parties. They are comprised of self-serving, petulant children who do little more than provide lip service to ensure re-election and engage in Twitter pissing contests.
If there is one positive thing that I hope the last 4-5 years and this pandemic will yield for the United States, it would be the rise of a true third party candidate as a viable option for the presidency. A true centrist moderate who can embody the best of both parties (yes, both parties at their core have good things they represent) but doesn't owe his/her allegiance to either of them. The only way you're ever really going to get things done in America is through compromise.
How the hell that would work, I don't know. There is too much "my way or the highway" bullshit embedded into this country's DNA that I feel like something like this would never work. But one can dream.
I share your dream and agree with every single thing you wrote.
Imagine that! In a blog, on the internet!
I will just add that the Democrats came up with worst set of candidates that I have ever seen. They were just so blinded by identity politics and giving away free stuff and apologizing for being themselves. Man that was nauseating. And now we are left with Joe? I guess he can't screw it up too bad. Maybe he can play nice with everyone and compromise on some solutions for shit we need solutions for.
March 22nd, 2020 at 11:45 PM ^
It would be interesting to know what the fine print on the TV contract says (particularly between NBC and the IOC), cause really, that's what will be the strongest determinant. Do they have an out if the U.S. backs out? What does the IOC/JOC owe NBC if the games are postponed or cancelled?
The games were already set to become a fiasco anyway. U.S. television insists they be held in August, because that's the time it is most profitable for U.S. television: kids are out of school, people stay up later watching TV, it's rerun season elsewhere on TV. But that creates problems for holding the games.
There were already many concerns about athletes and fans in the summer heat. The weather is generally hot and very humid with minimal breezes in late July, early-mid August in Tokyo, which is why the last time Tokyo hosted the games in 1964 they were in October (generally sunny, cooler weather).
After the test event had to be cut short because of the weather and athletes suffering from heat exhaustion, they've already moved the scheduled 2020 Olympic Marathon event to Sapporo (in northeastern Japan, where it's cooler and drier in summer).
March 22nd, 2020 at 11:50 PM ^
The correct move given the circumstances.
Unfortunate for the athletes who have put in the work; Canada would reasonably expect 20-30 medals this summer with at least 5 gold. Hitting a bit above our weight in terms of population.
Hopefully the IOC does the right thing and reschedules.
March 23rd, 2020 at 12:01 AM ^
Yeah - definitely a bummer for the athletes who have been preparing. That being said - the sooner a decision is made, the sooner those same individuals can start laying out a plan for a postponed event, whether it is a year from now or at another point in time.
Expecting the IOC to do the right thing is a lot like expecting the NCAA to do the right thing. That being said, they will be forced once the US backs out. If they don't it will be China vs Russia and Japan, as no one else will participate.
It’s summer olympics bro
March 23rd, 2020 at 12:05 AM ^
Double up in 2022, and go back to the way things were. I always hated the decision to alternate winter and summer games biennially.
Yes, please! We suffer from Olympic overload with the Games spread every two years. You want a big money maker, with hundreds of millions watching? Go back to everything every four years. Starve the population from Olympics for three years and bring it back to huge ratings that fourth year.
Bitch move from two countries who weren't willing to fight for their independence.
I’m surprised canaduh didn’t wait to see what their queen decided for the UK
An internet tough guy AND a Covid-19 tough guy.
Seriously??!
SMH
Yeah - well - so how exactly did the US invasion of Canada end up?
This is the beginning of the end for the 2020 olympics. Just like pro leagues and schools cancelling, once a few start dropping out then everyone else will too. Frankly, I can't believe they still haven't cancelled this thing. Do they really think it's still going to happen? No way
The US Olympic training centers are all closed. The athletes won’t even be in shape. It needs to get cancelled.
March 23rd, 2020 at 11:50 AM ^
I don't understand what a one-year postponement is going to accomplish. We're still going to be dealing with this shit next year. There is no endgame except for mass immunization, whether natural or vaccinated.
The Tokyo olympics chief said the games will not be canceled. Of course, that could be just hope and/or posturing. Part of me supports doing 2022 and going back to having both Olympics every 4 years. At the same time I do like one of them every two only because I enjoy the olympics.
March 23rd, 2020 at 10:44 AM ^
*Cancelled* and postponed are two different things.
March 23rd, 2020 at 10:04 AM ^
This will undoubtedly begin to force Japan's hand to push the Olympics out for a year. When more countries start backing out you really just have no choice.
I do hope that its just postponed and not cancelled altogether. I can only imagine how much money Japan has sunk into getting ready for the Olympics, and if it was cancelled altogether, all that money would've gone towards nothing.
March 23rd, 2020 at 10:18 AM ^
I always found it curious Japan spent all that money on the Games when up north, they still are having problems containing waste from the compromised nuclear reactors.
March 23rd, 2020 at 11:10 AM ^
Makes sense. Even if this happens to end by April or May, a LOT of training time will have been lost.
March 23rd, 2020 at 12:11 PM ^
Canada's Olympic Committee actually specifically stated the won't send them this summer on the call to the IOC. I was on the conference call between all the NSOs before hand.
It's a bit of posturing to get all the athletes clarity.
There are 2 main concerns in the rescheduling that need to be worked out and why the IOC is trying to stall for 1 announcement.
1. The athletes village has been sold off to be turned into housing.
2. The timing of every Major sports league and the Euro is NOT going to be typical making the TV window unclear.
The other concern is how to qualify countries in sports that have partially been qualified etc. And whether a 2 year delay should re open these places.
IOC JOC are selfishly trying to wait for clarity about what the best move is at the expense of athletes mental physical health.
I hope this helps shed some light on this, the Games are likely to be pushed into September next year.