The Maltese Olympic Committee is putting the health of the Maltese athletes as its top priority ahead of this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.
During the last few weeks, the international sporting calendar was thrown into chaos following the pandemic outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.
Most major sporting events across the world, including the Euro 2020 football championship and the Formula One calendar, have been rescheduled or scrapped as a result of the pandemic, and doubts are increasingly being expressed about holding the Olympics in its current slot.
Last week, Sebastian Coe, the World Athletics president, admitted that the Games could be moved to later in the year because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
“That is possible, anything is possible at the moment,” Coe told BBC when asked whether the Games could be postponed to September or October.
So far, the International Olympic Committee has maintained its stance that the Olympic Games will not be scrapped even though president Thomas Bach admitted that they are considering various scenarios.
But he remained optimistic about holding the Tokyo Olympics on schedule from July 24 to August 9.
“Of course, we are considering different scenarios, but we are contrary to many other sports organisations or professional leagues in that we are four-and-a-half months away from the Games,” Bach said.
“For us, (postponement) would not be responsible now and it would be premature to start speculation or make a decision at a time when we do not have any recommendation from the task force,” he added.
The Norwegian Olympic Committee (NOC) said yesterday they had asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to postpone the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo until the new coronavirus pandemic was under control.
Contacted by the The Sunday Times of Malta, the Maltese Olympic Committee said that it was following closely all the developments in the world caused by the coronavirus but made it clear that they will not put the health of its athletes at risk.
“The Maltese Olympic Committee is following very closely what is going on in the world and the implications of all that is happening more specifically on our athletes,” the MOC said in a statement.
“But we want to make it clear that we will not jeopardise the health of our athletes. That is why we will continue to follow the information and advice issued by the IOC and World Health Organisation and Maltese health authorities.”
The Maltese Olympic Committee said that last week the IOC held meetings with the international federations during which it discussed the Olympic Games and the qualifying competitions among others.
“Aware of the great restrictions on flights, quarantine, closure of sports facilities and an array of other difficulties, it was agreed to be as flexible as possible and to effect any changes to the dates,” the MOC said.
“Since a number of months, the IOC has already set up a commission made up of the world’s best scientists and is in constant communication with G7 to monitor the situation as well as to take any decisions based on facts and keeping the health of the athletes as a main priority.
“The IOC has assured us that any decision taken will not be based on any financial aspect.”
The postponement of qualifying events for next summer’s Olympics has inevitably made life harder for those athletes who want to secure an automatic berth in this year’s quadrennial Games, including a number of Maltese athletes such as trap shooter William Chetcuti, judoka Jeremy Saywell, weightlifter Yazmin Zammit Stevens, wind surfer Matt Carey and middle-distance runner Jordan Gusman.
However, the MOC said that it is expecting the IOC to make a number of changes to the qualifying format.
“There will be changes in the qualifying competitions and in some cases a number of places will be given based on world or international rankings,” the MOC said.
“That will be done even if this could mean a bigger number of athletes participating in the Games.”