The postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to the COVID-19 outbreak has carefully designed a sports calendar calibrated to coincide with the Summer Games.
When the decision was made in March to postpone the games for safety reasons, nearly half of the athletes hoping to be in Tokyo for the Olympics were still unaware, and the put in limbo immediately.
As much of the world issued tight locks earlier in the year, to help with the spread of the new coronavirus novel, professional and elite sporting events around the world were canceled.
By the time the International Olympic Committee and Tokyo 2020 announced new dates for the Olympics in March, only 57% of qualification places had been allocated.
The Olympic Games certification process must be approved by the IOC Governing Body, even though the organizations overseeing the process are International Federations.
Qualification routes for the Tokyo Games were agreed in 2018 but by the end of March only four sports had all their quotas allocated, in a process led by the host country’s National Olympic Committee.
This July the IOC approved the new certification process for Tokyo 2020, which extended the certification period to June 29, 2021. That meant athletes had nearly an additional year to achieve certification levels for the games, though it would come after a lot of training after a lot of training. disorder.
Waiting to deserve it
For most sports, the certification organization ahead of the reorganized Tokyo 2020 meant simply extending the certification period to extend into 2021 with the new cut-off dates. .
One activity resumed, these alliances continued the existing process with reorganized events and no changes to quotas or the number of athletes going to Tokyo.
But for sports that deliver Olympic credentials through world rankings or at events that were supposed to take place before Tokyo 2020, the pandemic threw a major streak in plans.
Many events like this allow athletes to qualify when positions are redeployed due to past events, and balance representation geographically.
To outline the new timeline, the existing certification venues were honored with International Confederations, while events were quickly reorganized to allow athletes to were consumed by the onset of the virus.
But rescheduling also had to avoid conflict with events already planned for 2021, such as the world tournaments to be held after Tokyo 2020.
A Tokyo 2020 spokesman told the Japan Times that the committee had “never” made any recommendations on reducing the number of athletes competing in next year’s Olympics. year due to COVID-19 or the certification process spent.
In addition, Tokyo 2020 stated that they had “not heard any concerns from IFs and NOCs regarding the certification process,” citing international alliances and national Olympic committees.
International alliances that re-organize test events will continue to use these events for Olympic certification. This includes the FINA Artistic Swimming Certificate Competition and the Diving World Cup, as well as the 2021 Art Athletics World Cup.
“Seventeen test events were postponed as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic,” said a Tokyo 2020 spokesperson. its test event already held in Tokyo, a marathon test event has also been added in Sapporo. This comes to a total of 18 test events. ”
Big changes, new methods
For a few sports, COVID-19 meant rethinking a large part of the Olympic certification process to meet the new timeline and maximize the safety of athletes.
World Athletics uses two different routes for its certification, time status and world status.
Half of its athletes have already entered the Games by meeting qualification status, but the athletic world stopped their competition record until Dec. 1 to give athletes a chance training before they need to qualify through a world-class position.
“I think allowing (World Athletics) to hold an Olympic qualification in the summer would have created a lot of unfair benefits for athletes from some countries,” said Katerina Stefanidi, who won the 2016 Olympic gold medal in a pole vault, to the Japan Times about the closure of an Olympic certificate.
Stefanidi had already qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games by meeting the required qualification level, so the closure did not affect her personally. However, at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic she had been among those troubling concerns about how athletes felt their lives were in danger without Tokyo 2020 postponed.
Another area that has gone unnoticed due to the pandemic is the number of anti-cup tests outside of competition, due to travel and social distance restrictions. Without such measures in place, it would make sense for World Athletics to suspend competitions that would count toward certification, Stefanidi said.
World Athletics says it is working on setting a fair schedule to allow athletes around the world to compete long enough to earn their place in Tokyo through their global rankings.
To do this, the alliance has come to record meetings that take place in one day, according to World Athletics Communications Senior Manager Yannis Nikolaou.
“We are working on a competitive schedule of one-day meetings from January to June 2021 – to ensure that a good number of meetings take place to offer athletes around the world the extra qualification opportunities, before The accreditation period ends in June 2021, ”said Nikolau. “We have recorded and announced the Inner World Tour, the Continental Tour and the Diamond League, and we hope to hold one-day meetings on every continent.”
When events begin in January, the alliance aims to release a recently updated COVID-19 protocol for athletes to adhere to, Nikolaou said.
As a member of the World Athletes Commission, Stefanidi says she is concerned about the fairness of meeting in 2021 for athletes to qualify for Tokyo 2020.
Even with events on every continent, travel restrictions can change at any time. And the future of any event – including the Olympics – remains under control as the virus is controlled between now and July, even with vaccinations.
No planned event is based in stone, even though alliances have worked to create COVID-19 free spaces for athletes. Things are going up in countries like Japan and the United States as the pandemic enters its second year.
“I think that, in order to hold the Olympics, travel and competitions have to resume at least satisfactorily,” said Stefanidi.
“However, we will have to wait and see how the situation develops in 2021. Will athletes be able to travel and compete? I don’t know, but I hope so, ”said Stafanidi. “This is my personal opinion, but if athletes can’t travel to compete, I don’t know how confident I feel about the Olympics.”
| Impact of COVID-19 on Olympic qualification | Fun |
| Certificate completed | Cycling (Road and Path), Horse Riding (Uniform, Event and Jump), Hockey, softball |
| Certificate timeline extended | Archery, Swimming Art, Basketball, Basketball 3 × 3, Boxing, Canoe (Slalom and Sprint), Diving, Fencing, Football, Golf, Athletics (Art, Rhythmic and Trampoline), Handball, Karate, Swimming Marathon, Today’s Pentathlon, Rugby, sailing, shooting, climbing sports, Surfing, Table Tennis, Tennis, Triathlon, Water Polo |
| Modifications made to the accreditation system | Rowing, Swimming, Badminton, Skateboarding, Taekwondo, Judo, Wrestling |
| Major changes made to the certification system | Athletics, Cycling (BMX Freestyle, BMX Racing and Mountain Bike), Weightlifting, basketball |
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