Will 2020 World Indoor Track and Field Championships in Nanjing China be moved to another location?

running blister wrote:

Can’t imagine the IAAF keeping Nanjing China as the location for this years indoor track and field world championships.

Can’t imagine athletes wanting to be subjected to the possibility of getting sick through plane travel to China, breathing the air in China or eating the food in China.

Thoughts on alternative location?

This has never stopped major sporting events happening in China. They held the Olympics in Rio and it was probably much worse there. They are not moving this thing.

ongau wrote:

running blister wrote:

Can’t imagine the IAAF keeping Nanjing China as the location for this years indoor track and field world championships.

Can’t imagine athletes wanting to be subjected to the possibility of getting sick through plane travel to China, breathing the air in China or eating the food in China.

Thoughts on alternative location?

This has never stopped major sporting events happening in China. They held the Olympics in Rio and it was probably much worse there. They are not moving this thing.

Well this seems to hint that moving it might happen and that the Asian Indoor champs have already been moved

"Sydney will replace Nanjing, China, for the AFC's (Asian Football Confederation's) Feb. 3-7 Olympic qualifying tournament, which had already been moved from Wuhan, the city at the center of the crisis, which remains in lockdown."

Admittedly, World Indoors is 5 weeks later in Nanjing (March 13-15) so there is still some time before a decision has to be made but what the the odds that World Indoors gets moved? Does anyone know how these diseases normally play out? Would they still be a thing 2 months from now.

https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/28568086/afc-itf-qualifying-events-moved-china-deadly-viral-outbreak

I support world indoors being moved out of China. Not in Russia either.

I was happy it was finally not going to be somewhere western. This is a bummer if it holds. Maybe somewhere Eastern Europe this time.

It will be moved, even if the epidemy has declined byt he time. It will take time to announce a region as virus free. And I doubt China will be cleared so soon.

Athletes would completely desert a China indoor championship now. IAAF has no choice.

jenapharm wrote:

ongau wrote:

This has never stopped major sporting events happening in China. They held the Olympics in Rio and it was probably much worse there. They are not moving this thing.

Well this seems to hint that moving it might happen and that the Asian Indoor champs have already been moved

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jan/26/coronavirus-threatens-world-indoor-athletics-championships-in-nanjing

If the venue is not moved from China and athletes get sick, the blame will be on China and athletes sponsors/coaches.

Can’t imagine willingly going to China under its current circumstance. If Hong Kong is willing to shut schools down for two weeks on top of New Year holiday it must be worse then people are letting on.

LetsRun.com wrote:

Admittedly, World Indoors is 5 weeks later in Nanjing (March 13-15) so there is still some time before a decision has to be made but what the the odds that World Indoors gets moved? Does anyone know how these diseases normally play out? Would they still be a thing 2 months from now.

The 2002-2003 SARS outbreak is probably the closest analog to this. It started in late November, really took off late February-early March, and was not contained until early July.

If anybody with common sense is in charge, it will be moved.

Can TrackTown USA pull something off and host the meet at the Oregon Convention Center? They'd have to get the track back from the University of Iowa...

Dingler wrote:

The 2002-2003 SARS outbreak is probably the closest analog to this. It started in late November, really took off late February-early March, and was not contained until early July.

If anybody with common sense is in charge, it will be moved.

Agree.

Maybe even the politicians can understand that.

Wondering though... what venues/organizations would be able to pull a World Champinship together in less than 7 weeks?

Best city/venue to accommodate this on such short notice is Torun, Poland. They have a relatively new facility, are on the world indoor circuit, and are preparing for the 2021 Euro Indoor Championships. Probably could draw decent crowds on short notice, too.

https://www.european-athletics.org/competitions/european-athletics-indoor-championships/

LetsRun.com wrote:

"Sydney will replace Nanjing, China, for the AFC's (Asian Football Confederation's) Feb. 3-7 Olympic qualifying tournament, which had already been moved from Wuhan, the city at the center of the crisis, which remains in lockdown."

Admittedly, World Indoors is 5 weeks later in Nanjing (March 13-15) so there is still some time before a decision has to be made but what the the odds that World Indoors gets moved? Does anyone know how these diseases normally play out? Would they still be a thing 2 months from now.

Think of this as a less dangerous version of the flu. A few years ago the flu killed 80,000 in the US. Though the average is about 36,000 deaths per years. I think these numbers put the coronavirus into perspective. Could the coronavirus grow to be worse than the flu? Only time will tell.

sbeefyk2 wrote:

LetsRun.com wrote:

"Sydney will replace Nanjing, China, for the AFC's (Asian Football Confederation's) Feb. 3-7 Olympic qualifying tournament, which had already been moved from Wuhan, the city at the center of the crisis, which remains in lockdown."

Admittedly, World Indoors is 5 weeks later in Nanjing (March 13-15) so there is still some time before a decision has to be made but what the the odds that World Indoors gets moved? Does anyone know how these diseases normally play out? Would they still be a thing 2 months from now.

Think of this as a less dangerous version of the flu. A few years ago the flu killed 80,000 in the US. Though the average is about 36,000 deaths per years. I think these numbers put the coronavirus into perspective. Could the coronavirus grow to be worse than the flu? Only time will tell.

I think I understand what you're saying, but it needs to be said differently.

The way I'd say it is "the n2019 outbreak might be a much less significant outbreak than a typical flu season". That's true.

The virus itself is clearly more dangerous. Ro estimates are around 1.5 - 2.5, which is on par with the flu. However, it causes noticeably more severe illness, and is currently killing at a rate of at least 3-4%, and of 2800 currently infected, 300+ are critical, e.g. battling for their life with severe illness.

SARS too was much more dangerous than the flu. We were able to get on top of it though and stop the spread. We dont do the same for garden variety influenze because it kills around 0.1%, primarily in those already sickly.

If they move it, it will only be for PR reasons. Five days ago lots of people were predicting an apocalypse. I don’t think it’s coming. Next week will tell us a lot after people return from the New Year holiday. I live in China, I have three young kids. I’m not in Wuhan, but I think this is a bad, but not the worst, flu season at the moment.

They just held the Australian Open even though the whole continent is on fire. The powers that be dint give a crap about the athletes well being. Someone else already pointed out the Rio Olympics. The bribery checks have already been cashed and it's happening.

longboat wrote:

Wondering though... what venues/organizations would be able to pull a World Champinship together in less than 7 weeks?

Literally any country can pull it off. Indoor worlds isn't that big of a deal.