More General Coronavirus In Sport News

• 2022 Set To Be A Busy Summer With The World Championships, Commonwealth Games And European Championships All On The Schedule Seb Coe: “All three [events] are probably going to have to give a bit, and they’re probably going to take a bit. Ultimately, the number one objective is ‘how do we do this for the athletes?'”
• Three Championships In 6-Weeks Gives Athletes A Chance At A Gold Medal Hatrick Seb Coe said they want to arrange the schedule so tripling is an option, at least for non-distance athletes.
• Former UKA Head Ed Warner Thinks UKA Should “Gift” The Anniversary Games To Tokyo To Solve London Stadium Clash With West Ham Soccer Club West Ham doesn’t want to let UKA use the London Stadium for the Anniversary Games in July as their soccer season will be pushed back. This bickering all might be irrelevant anyway if the coronavirus pandemic continues into the summer.
• The Guardian: “From Marble Racing To Balcony Marathons, The ‘Sports’ Filling The Void”
• Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates Taking Voluntary 20% Pay Cut In Response To Pandemic Even after the pay cut, he’ll still get paid $287,000+ for 2020.

Tokyo Olympics News

• RRW: Olympic Marathons To Remain In Sapporo
• Political Rival Of Japanese Prime Minister Casts Doubts On New Dates For Tokyo Games Shigeru Ishiba is leading polls to be Japan’s next Prime Minister and fears the coronavirus could still be too out of control to hold the Olympics even next year.  
  Olympic Flame For Postponed Tokyo 2020 Goes On Display In Fukushima The flame will be on display until it moves to Tokyo at the end of the month, but visitors are required to wear a mask.

The Sporting Calendar Is A Mess

• RRW: September Could Be Blockbuster Month For Athletics & Road Running The calendar is going to be super-crowded to say the least.
• More USATF Events From May Through July Have Been Cancelled This includes Oxy, US U20 Champs, the Thorpe Cup and World Masters Champs.
• BBC: After Coronavirus Sport Set For Hectic Year Approaching 2021

Tokyo Olympics Dates Officially Set For July-August 2021

• Rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympics To Open On July 23, 2021 The Closing Ceremony will take place on August 8th. The dates were originally from July 24 to August 9, 2020.
• Eugene World Championships Confirmed For 2022 Numerous sporting events planned for 2021 will be moved to make room for the Olympics.

Seb Coe Speaks

• Seb Coe Says Having The Olympics In The Spring Would Not Be Ideal Coe pointed out that it would be difficult for track athletes to peak in April and May, but that they would remain flexible, saying, “At this stage it’s fair to say nothing is on the table, nothing is off the table.”
  *MB: Renato Canova: Olympic organizers are considering holding next spring. Personally I don’t think that one can be a real opportunity.
  *MB: If the Olympics are held in spring of 2021, when and where should USATF hold the Olympic Trials?
• Seb Coe Writes Open Letter To The Athletics Community “In sport we have a unique opportunity not to tip toe around things and tweak at the edges. We have the chance to think bigger, to rip up the blueprints and banish the ‘that’s the way we’ve always done it’ mentality.”
• Seb Coe Says Eugene World Champs Could Move To 2022 Coe said it would still be possible to have a 2022 and 2023 Championships back-to-back.
• Seb Coe Says Athletes Who Are Currently Qualified For The Olympics Will Keep Their Spots Coe says that accounts for half the places at the Tokyo Games. This policy will go for all sports (6,200 total athletes are already qualified). *2nd Article
• Seb Coe Says Olympic Qualification Process And Late Season Meets Being Studied World Athletics hoping to offer a series of meets beginning in August and running through October.

Doping News

• USADA Head Travis Tygart Fears Athletes Could “Take Advantage” Of Reduced Testing “People around the world have indicated significant reductions [in testing], in some places it may have shut down entirely.”
• Four Russian Athletes, Including Two Former Olympic Champions, Accused Of Doping By The AIU 2008 Olympic HJ champ and 2012 Olympic 400H champ Natalia Antyukh have been charged based on evidence from the McLaren report. So too have 2007 world 1,500m silver medalist Yelena Soboleva and hammer thrower Oksana Kondratyeva.
• What A Lunatic: Russia’s 2-Time Olympic Gymnast Gold Medalist Svetlana Khorkina Claims Postponing Tokyo 2020 Is A Punishment From God For Offending Russia She said, “I think this all happened because they shouldn’t have offended Russia, including our athletes. There is a reason why there is a line in our national anthem that says our land is protected by the Lord. … I think this was God’s punishment.”

More Athlete Reactions

• The Oregonian: Galen Rupp, Shelby Houlihan, Evan Jager, English Gardner, And Pete Julian React To Olympic Postponement Houlihan: “Safety should definitely be the No. 1 priority. But it does suck because I was ready for this year.”
• Shannon Rowbury’s Nike Contract Is Up At The End Of This Year So She’s Hoping To Race This Summer To Prove She’s Still Worth Sponsoring 35-year-old Rowbury says she’d like to transition to a coaching or administration role in Pete Julian‘s group.
• Justin Gatlin Says He’s Been Inspired By Tom Brady To Continue On For One More Year “It won’t be that big of a difference from being 38 to 39. But, I always said ‘I’m not running ’til I’m 40.’ I was so hard on myself with not running till I’m 40. And now it looks like I’m pushing close to 40, and I’m going to still be running.”
• Emma Coburn, Sara Hall, Allie Ostrander And Other American Distance Women Talk About Olympic Cancellation And The Coronavirus USATF spokesperson Susan Hazzard said “it’s possible” they will still have the 2020 USATF Championships at some point, even though the Olympic Trials are postponed.
• The Athletics Association (The Organization Started By Christian Taylor) Surveyed Over 4,000 Athletes About Olympic Cancellation 78% of the athletes surveyed thought Tokyo 2020 should be postponed. 22% said it should be outright cancelled.
• South African Sprint Star Akani Simbine Has Mixed Feelings Over Tokyo 2020 Postponement

More On Olympic Postponement Decision

• Thomas Bach Says That The Tokyo Games Could Be Held In Spring Of 2021 Bach admitted that cancellation had been on the table, but it was “very clear that this should not be something the IOC would in any way favor.”
• Seb Coe Warns Dopers That Event Delays Won’t Protect Them Even though there will be less testing done, Coe says the AIU has already moved away from mass testing to “intelligent testing” and will still catch them. Coe also talked about the complications of rescheduling events and Olympic qualifying.
• The Telegraph: Who Are The Winners And Losers From Tokyo 2020 Postponement? For some athletes who are getting a bit older, like Mo Farah (who will be 38 in 2021), an extra year of aging probably isn’t helpful. But for others like 400 hurdler Eilidh Doyle, who gave birth in January, it gives them time to make a comeback.
  *MB: Let’s pretend the Olympics are postponed. The following athletes would benefit the most from it:
• Thomas Bach Says Costs Were Not Discussed When Deciding Olympic Postponement – “This is about protecting lives.” That’s BS. Of course they considered the costs. However, the IOC’s former head of commercial doesn’t think they shouldn’t suffer major losses, “You may be dealing with a little bit of re-engineering on the margin, but nothing of substance.”
• BBC: “Tokyo 2020 – The Right Decision, Made Just In Time” “When half the globe is under curfew in their own homes the idea of a vast assembly of athletes and spectators no longer makes any sense.”
• The Telegraph: Coronavirus Has Done For Tokyo 2020, But We Can Still Unite The Country By Reliving London 2012″
• Sport Ireland Promises To Maintain Athletes’ Funding Despite Tokyo Postponement

Update On LRC Coronavirus Patient’s Condition

LRC Update: LetsRun.com Visitor With COVID-19 Continues To Recover Good news as “justthefacts” condition continued to improve over the weekend and his fever is gone.

LRC What’s It Like For A Runner To Have COVID-19? A Long-Time LetsRun.com Visitor Shares His Story Of Being Infected With The Coronavirus A long-term visitor to LetsRun.com wants to share his story of what it is like to have the coronavirus. He also wants a LetsRun.com singlet when he gets better.
Discussion: I tested Positive for COVID here is my story