The International Olympic Committee has given itself a month to consider postponing the 2020 Olympics after an emergency meeting on Sunday, CBC Sports has confirmed.
However, the IOC stated in a press release that “cancellation is not on the agenda” with respect to the upcoming Games.
The announcement comes in the wake of a growing chorus of voices from international sport organizations and high-profile athletes calling for the postponement of Tokyo 2020.
In a separate letter sent to Olympic athletes, IOC president Thomas Bach offered assurance that “we are working very hard, and we are confident that we will have finalized these discussions within the next four weeks.”
WATCH | Rob Pizzo discusses how COVID-19 has shut down the sporting world:
CBC Sports’ Rob Pizzo on the number of events that have been postponed or cancelled due to pandemic. 7:01
Furthermore, the IOC indicated in the press release that it will “step up” its contemplation of different scenarios surrounding the Games.
“These scenarios relate to modifying existing operational plans for the Games to go ahead on 24 July 2020, and also for changes to the start date of the Games,” the statement reads.
“This step will allow better visibility of the rapidly changing development of the health situation around the world and in Japan. It will serve as the basis for the best decision in the interest of the athletes and everyone else involved.”
Bach reaches out to concerned athletes
In light of concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, Bach indicated the IOC wants to be part of the solution, but with the goal of staging the Games still at top of mind.
“As successful athletes, you know that we should never give up, even if the chance to succeed appears to be very small,” Bach said.
“Our commitment to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is based on this experience. It is our experience as athletes that you must always be ready to adapt to new situations. For this reason we have, as indicated before, been thinking in different scenarios and are adapting them almost day by day.”
Bach was also clear that it is still too early to make a decision.
“Our basis of information today is that a final decision about the date of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 now would still be premature,” he said.
WATCH | How is COVID-19 affecting Tokyo 2020?
As of now the Games are still on, but is it only a matter of time until that changes? 4:15
Countries around the world have closed borders and enforced strict lockdowns, trying to stop the pandemic. COVID-19 has killed around 13,000 people since surfacing in China months ago.
Pressure to delay Tokyo 2020 mounted throughout the week.
On Tuesday, Canadian hockey great Hayley Wickenheiser, a member of the IOC’s Athletes Commission and a six-time Olympian, called out the IOC, saying in a statement posted on Twitter that the current crisis is bigger than any Olympics.
“I think the IOC insisting this will move ahead with such conviction is insensitive and irresponsible given the state of humanity. We don’t know what’s happening in the next 24 hours, let alone the next three months,” Wickenheiser said.
After Wickenheiser spoke out, the dominos started to fall.
Increasing calls for postponement
In the days that followed, the IOC drew heavy criticism for not postponing the Games. USA Swimming called for a 12-month postponement — a move supported by Swimming Canada.
“Telling athletes to prepare for an Olympic Games during a global pandemic raises serious issues,” Swimming Canada CEO Ahmed El-Awadi said in a statement.
“We hold the opinions of our brothers and sisters at USA Swimming in high regard and share many of the same concerns around health and safety. That includes the safety and well-being of our athletes — both physically and mentally — and the safety of the community at large. Each day that goes by without a decision creates more stress and anxiety for our athletes, who are worried, not only about themselves, but about their communities.”
And then on Saturday, USA Track and Field said it also supported a postponement. Soon after, the Norwegian Olympic Committee echoed these sentiments, saying the Olympics should wait until the COVID-19 situation is under control.
Lacking empathy
Later on Saturday, AthletesCAN — the organization that represents all of Canada’s national team athletes — questioned the International Olympic Committee’s level of empathy, as the world deals with the COVID-19 pandemic.
CBC Sports obtained a copy of the internal email sent to all AthletesCAN members. The email raised doubts over moving forward with the Olympics, and the increasingly muddy qualifying schedule.
“While we desperately want to believe that health and safety of all involved in the Games is the utmost priority for the IOC, IPC [International Paralympic Committee] and TOC [Tokyo Organizing Committee], at times, the communication has lacked empathy in recognizing athletes as humans first, and athletes second,” AthletesCAN wrote.
With only 57 per cent of Olympics spots currently decided, and qualifying events continuing to be cancelled, Canadian athletes remain in limbo. Anxiety over the unknown was reaching a fever-pitch. The internal letter suggested athletes are torn.
WATCH | Canadian track and field stars on potential postponement of Games:
Coming soon, CBC Sports’ Anson Henry hosts a panel discussion with some of Canada’s best track and field athletes and the head coach about potential postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. 2:28
The organization says they understand that “athletes are currently in a very unpredictable and difficult position, especially as workout facilities and training centres around the country have been forced to close.”
The IOC made a number of calls on Wednesday to reassure jittery partners, including one with more than 200 athlete-representatives from around the world.
“It was constructive in a way that everybody realized that we have still more than four months to go and we will address this action,” said Bach.
“We said we were going to continue to be very realistic in our analysis.”
Bach said the IOC will continue to push toward Tokyo while “safeguarding the health of the athletes and contributing to the containment of the virus.”
Throughout all of this, Bach has been adamant that cancelling the Olympics is not an option.
“A cancellation of the Games would be the least fair solution. A cancellation would destroy the Olympic dream of 11,000 athletes of 206 Olympic committees,” Bach told Germany’s SWR broadcaster.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
