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The Nairobian

Should International Olympic Committee postpone Tokyo 2020 Olympics?

Sports

By AFP | Mar 21, 2020

**A woman wearing a protective face mask, following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), walks past the Olympic rings in front of the Japan Olympics Museum in Tokyo, Japan March 13, 2020.** [REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo]

US athletics’ governing body joined calls for the Tokyo Olympics to be postponed yesterday, urging United States Olympic chiefs to push for the games to be delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter to the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), USA Track and Field chief Max Siegel said forging ahead with Olympic preparations “would not be in the best interest of our athletes.”

The USATF call for a postponement echoed a similar request by USA Swimming on Friday after the USOPC said it was too soon to postpone the July 24-August 9 Games.

Siegel urged the USOPC to support a postponement, citing the health and safety of athletes as well as disruption to training and competition schedules caused by the COVID-19 crisis.

At the same time, the Norwegian Olympic Committee (NOC) said yesterday they had asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to postpone the games until the new coronavirus pandemic was under control.

In a letter sent to the IOC on Friday, the Norwegian sports body said it was “concerned about the Covid-19 pandemic and the public health situation both nationally and internationally.”

“Our clear recommendation is that the Olympic Games in Tokyo shall not take place before the COVID-19 situation is under firm control on a global scale,” the letter continued.

The NOC also pointed out that one of the measures undertaken in order to curb the spread of the virus in Norway was a ban on organised sports activities.