Tokyo 2020 Olympics coronavirus: Organisers say three months or bust
An Australian Olympian has told of her coronavirus fears and said she wasn’t prepared to risk her family’s health as Tokyo Olympics organisers have ruled out cancelling the event.
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Australian Olympian Alisa Camplin is stranded in Melbourne as the coronavirus threat prevents her from returning home to Hong Kong.
The Winter Olympics aerial skiing gold medallist told of her fear and said she wasn’t prepared to risk her family’s health.
“We went skiing in Whistler for Chinese New Year and we never got back,’’ Camplin said.
“I’ve been treading water in Canada for five weeks and we just landed in Melbourne on Sunday. We plan to be here for the next five or six weeks.
“It has been scary. The hard thing is hedging your bets. Do you play it really conservatively or go back?
“Everyone we know back in Hong Kong is really isolated.
“You can’t congregate in large groups, all the beaches and playgrounds and parks are closed. “Schools are closed, everyone is going stir crazy. As much as people are trying to stay physically healthy, people’s mental health has been really challenged.”
Camplin moved to Hong Kong for her husband’s work, as well as furthering her own performance work.
She attended the relaunch of the Australian Sports Museum at the MCG last night, alongside other legends of sport including Dawn Fraser, Michelle Payne, Andrew Gaze, Kevin Bartlett and John Bertrand.
She said all athletes need to keep preparing strongly for the Olympics in Tokyo.
“Every Olympics has some sort of major global issue going on around it that is confronting to athletes and organisers,’’ she said.
“For me before Salt Lake City it was 9/11 (attacks).
“You leave it to the IOC and AOC. You can’t control that as an athlete, you have to be as best prepared as you possibly can.
“It would be bitterly disappointing and devastating now for athletes as well as organisers. I hope every athlete is still full steam ahead with their preparation.”
Camplin’s comments come as Australia has been asked not to slap a travel ban on Japan, as the future of the Tokyo Olympics hangs in the balance.
Tokuro Furuya, the Political Minister at Japan’s Embassy in Australia, said there was no need for even a partial travel ban to outbreak areas, and that Japan is working closely with the Morrison Government, The Australian reports.
“We do not consider it necessary to introduce any restrictions on travel between both countries at this time,” he said.
“We are witnessing the rapid spread of COVID-19 worldwide, and Japan and Australia have made their utmost effort to prevent its spread in their countries respectively.
“Japan continues to update the Australian Government and explain in detail with respect to the situation in Japan and its ongoing efforts.”
It comes as the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee insisted yesterday it would not cancel the Games.
An official spokesman for the committee said: “We have never discussed cancelling the Games. Preparations for the Games are continuing as planned.”
“Countermeasures against infectious diseases constitute an important part of our plans to host a safe and secure Games.”
But Dick Pound, the longest-serving member of the IOC, estimates there’s a three-month window to decide the fate of the Tokyo Olympics.
Pound, speaking overnight, was frank about the risks facing the Olympics.
In an interview with AP, Pound said: “A lot of things have to start happening. You’ve got to start ramping up your security, your food, the Olympic Village, the hotels, the media folks will be in there building their studios.”
And if it got to the point of not going ahead, Pound speculated: “you’re probably looking at a cancellation.”
“This is the new war and you have to face it. In and around that time, I’d say folks are going to have to ask: ‘Is this under sufficient control that we can be confident about going to Tokyo, or not?”’
The 2020 Organising Committee continued: “To address the novel coronavirus issue, the Government of Japan has established the Novel Coronavirus Response Headquarters … and intends to pay full attention to the virus’s impacts and thoroughly respond to them.
“The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has also established an internal task force.
“We have created a framework for periodic updates between Tokyo 2020 and the IOC and will continue to stay in close collaboration.”
However, speculation is mounting that one of the year’s biggest events will be impacted starting with the torch relay starting in Greece on March 12.
The Olympic torch will be lit at the site of the Ancient Greek Games before a seven-day relay in Greece then a handover ceremony in Athens to Japan on March 19. It will then go on a relay around Japan before ending with the Games’ opening ceremony in Tokyo on July 24.
Some 10,000 people over 121 days will carry the torch in Japan, which is one of the epicentres of the virus with 773 infections and counting, and four deaths.
Most of these infections were on the Diamond Princess cruise ship – just over three kilometres from the Yokohama Baseball stadium.
But as the torch is not handed between runners, rather the flame of one lights the next, there is limited human contact.
The IOC backed Tokyo organisers and said it had been advised by the World Health Organisation that there is no case for contingency plans to cancel or relocate the Games.
It is currently unclear if the Organising Committee has a contingency plan and there is a reluctance to address the uncertainty.
When asked if there was indeed a Plan B, the Organising Committee ignored the question directly and as part of their statement said: “Tokyo 2020 will continue to collaborate with all relevant organisations which carefully monitor any incidence of infectious diseases and we will review any countermeasures that may be necessary with all relevant organisations.”
But Pound added: “As far as we all know you’re going to be in Tokyo.”
“All indications are at this stage that it will be business as usual. So keep focused on your sport and be sure that the IOC is not going to send you into a pandemic situation.”
Originally published as Tokyo 2020 Olympics coronavirus: Organisers say three months or bust