Spanish Olympic Committee Head Calls For Tokyo Games To Be Postponed

Dozens of Olympic qualifier matches have been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, but the official position of the Japanese government is that the games should still be held. Though news that a top Olympics Organizing Committee Official in Japan tested positive for the virus certainly didn’t bode well for the future of the games when it was announced yesterday.

Now, the president of the Spanish Olympic Committee is recommending that the games be postponed, Reuters reports.

Spanish Olympic Committee President Alejandro Blanco has said he would prefer this year’s games to be postponed because his country’s athletes are not able to train due to the pandemic.

This comes after the committee said yesterday that there was no need for “any drastic decisions at this stage”, referring to the Tokyo Games, even as qualifying matches and other championship games, including the Euro 2020, have been cancelled.

The opening ceremony is slated for July 24, but Blanco believes it would be ‘unfair’ to athletes who were unable to train to move ahead with the games, claiming that athletes from Spain would certainly face a disadvantage.

“The decision is for the International Olympic Committee [to make] after getting reports from the World Health Organization and the Organising Committee,” he said in a statement.

“The news that we get every day is uncomfortable for all countries in the world, but for us the most important thing is that our sportspeople cannot train and to celebrate the Games [as planned] would result in unequal conditions.”

“We want the Olympics to take place, but with security. We’re an important country in the world and four months before the Games, our athletes can’t arrive in equal conditions.”

Of course, Spain is among the countries hit hardest by the outbreak, with more than 11,000 cases reported, compared with roughly 30,000 in Italy.