Coronavirus: Tokyo Olympic Games should be postponed now, Kevan Gosper says

Former IOC vice president Kevan Gosper slams delay in cancelling Tokyo Games, saying athletes’ health is at risk if they go ahead in July.

Former Olympic athlete and IOC vice president Kevan Gosper. Photo: AFP

Former International Olympic Committee vice president Kevan Gosper has called on IOC president Thomas Bach to immediately end the uncertainty over the Tokyo Olympics and postpone it until 2021.

In an interview with the Australian, Mr Gosper — a now-honorary IOC member who competed in the Olympics in Melbourne in 1956 and Rome in 1960 — said he supported the call by the president of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe, to make an immediate decision to postpone the Games until next year.

Mr Gosper, who was captain of the Australian athletics team at the 1960 Games, said it was not fair for the athletes to have to wait for another month for the IOC to make a final decision on the future of the 2020 Games which are due to start in July as they faced increasing difficulties training with travel restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 crisis.

“We should take the decision now to postpone the Games,” he told The Australian.

“It is impossible to hold a Games in July which would give all the athletes of the world the opportunity to come. It would also carry risks for the health of the athletes.

“The IOC president doesn’t need more time to make a decision. He needs to move now to end the uncertainty.”

Kevan Gosper (left) in action during his competition days. Picture: File

Mr Gosper’s comments add to the growing calls by sporting federations and leaders around the world for the IOC to make a decision immediately to postpone the Games, rescheduling it to a later date.

Mr Coe, who won gold medals in the 1500 metres in the Olympics in 1980 and 1984, wrote a letter to Mr Bach earlier this week calling on him to decide now to postpone the 2020 Games and look for a new date.

Bach has been insisting until recently that the July Games would go ahead.

He softened his stance this week saying that the IOC would decide next month on the future of the 2020 Games.

The Australian Olympic Committee told athletes on Monday that they should prepare for the Games to be postponed from 2020 until 2021.

This followed threats by the Canadian Olympic Committee that it would not send its athletes to the 2020 Games.

While the cancellation of the Games in 2020 seems increasingly likely, mostly likely postponed until July next year, there is increasing frustration that the IOC has been dragging out the issue — putting heavy pressure on athletes to continue training in the current environment and unnecessarily prolonging the uncertainty for the hundreds of thousands of others who would be involved in the Games.

Even without overseas spectators, an Olympics in July 2020 would still see the potential arrival of some 15,000 athletes and another 10,000 officials, crowded into Tokyo hotels and the athletes’ village.

There is also concern that if they went ahead, the 2020 Games could see only a few countries participate and could involve athletes using drugs given the increasing difficulties with pre-competition testing in the current environment.

Athletics legend Sebastian Coe. Picture: AFP

Mr Gosper, who won a silver medal in the 4x400 metres relay at the Melbourne Olympics, said he strongly supported the position of Mr Coe.

“Athletics is a flagship sport of the Olympics,” he said.

“People have to listen to what Coe has to say.”

Mr Gosper said he trusted Mr Coe’s judgment as a former Olympic athlete and as a sports administrator.

He said it was “not fair to the athletes” to prolong the uncertainty about the Games.

“They have to be taken off the hook earlier rather than later.”

Mr Gosper said the current situation was not like previous challenges where the IOC had been under political pressure to cancel an Olympics.

He said in this case the athletes faced a “common enemy” in the COVID-19 virus.

He said calls for other Games cancellations had involved political pressure but in this case the need to postpone the 2020 Games was to protect the health of the athletes which was one of the key responsibilities of the Olympic movement.