Following the International Olympic Committee’s announcement that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics would be postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, FINA, the world governing body of aquatic sports, is considering its options for the 2021 World Aquatics Championships, which are scheduled for July of next year in Fukuoka, Japan.
Despite the Olympics postponement, FINA Executive Director Cornel Marculescu said there is no chance of the 2021 FINA World Championships being bumped to 2022.
“No, no, no, no, no, no,” said Marculescu when asked by The Associated Press if the 2021 FINA World Championships could be postponed one year.
“If they do it in summer, then we (will have to change) the dates (of the world championships),” he said. “If they do it at the beginning of the year, maybe we don’t need to touch the dates. The only thing we do, we wait to see what is the IOC decision,” Marculescu reiterated.
The Tokyo Olympics are to be “rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021.”
In other words, the Games do not have to take place in the summer of 2021 if the novel coronavirus can be contained within the next 9 to 12 months.
The question came after leaders of World Athletics (the FINA peer in athletics) suggested that they would consider a move to 2022 to accommodate the Olympic schedule.
A timeline of containment is difficult to gauge, however. Some experts believe between one-third and two-thirds of the world’s population, a staggering 2.5 to 5 billion people, will have to contract the virus before the human race develops “herd immunity.” Furthermore, researchers believe a vaccine is somewhere between 12 and 18 months away.
Given the expert opinions and that March 2020 is drawing to a close (and not sheepishly), it seems likely the Tokyo Olympics will take place no less than 12 months from now, with a higher likelihood of the postponement reaching closer to a full year from the originally-planned July 24th Opening Ceremony.
At present, the next four FINA World Aquatics Championships are scheduled for Fukuoka (2021), Doha, Qatar (2023), Kazan, Russia (2025), and Budapest, Hungary (2027). The 2029 World Aquatics Championships have not yet been decided.
The IOC’s official postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games comes on the heels of both Canada and Australia announcing they would not send athletes to a 2020 Summer Olympics as the coronavirus continues to spread. Other coaches and athletes have also advocated the postponement of the 2020 Summer Games.
Though there is still much to be worked out in the coming weeks and months, the idea of postponing the Olympics one year became an increasingly popular option among athletes in terms of stopping further spread of COVID-19 and because most athletes, swimmers especially, have no place to train during social distancing.
If social distancing is driving you mad, take solace in this number: 2 million.
Some researchers believe that if the coronavirus were allowed to work its way through the United States population unimpeded (a strategy that would quicken a population’s acquisition of herd immunity) it would likely reach its peak in 3 months, infecting 81% of the population and killing around 2 million Americans. While the future is unclear, the measures society is taking now will hopefully keep the death toll well below the estimated 2 million casualties an unimpeded virus would inflict.
Typical FINA. Their heads stuck under the water, refusing to ACCEPT reality.
Oh, they know what they are doing. To understand, follow the trail of money and corruption. Every F*** organization is corrupted, especially officials from Eastern European and developing countries.
World Athletics boss Sebastian Coe is being more flexible saying the 2021 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon could be moved back to 2022 if necessary.
“In other words, the Games do not have to take place in the summer of 2021 if the novel coronavirus can be contained within the next 9 to 12 months.”
How does he think they will host the SUMMER Olympics in January ??
I’ve heard the proposal that they might split the games up into pieces, run them in multiple sessions throughout the year based on the best weather and other international calendars. That would alleviate the strain of finding housing for 11,000 athletes, coaches, and officials all at the same time.
So, for example, aquatic sports, fencing, track cycling, etc. that are held indoors anyway could be held in maybe February or March, outdoor endurance sports like the marathon, open water swimming, could be held in October, and sports that either prefer the warm weather (surfing) or have a major conflict internationally (like basketball and soccer, re: professional season) could be held in July.
That plan made a lot of sense to… Read more »
There has been various discussions about a third Games for about a decade. In theory, makes perfect sense. Allows to continue to expand the number of sports and at the same time bring more cities into the pool of possible hosts due to smaller head counts and venue demands. You lay out most of the rationale. It would be an interesting trial to have the Tokyo host all of the components this time and if it works, future Spring and Summer Games could be bid out separately for 2032 and beyond. The fact that 2028 is already set is a happy accident that allows an extended window of time to plan for the transition.
“NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO,”-Me when I am entered in the 200IM against the fastest swimmer in the state
Fukuoka will be all olympics events. Seismic risk lower than Tokyo. Today is sended warning in hell: magnitude 7,5 quake in kuril Faul laine.
While you’re at let’s evacuate all of California. The entire nation of Chile as well, it’s too dangerous there for any human activity…
Earthquakes happen man, life goes on…
Brilliant. I’m reminded of winter sports like figure skating that insist on holding a world championships during the Olympic year and not long after the Olympics conclude. You get weird results because some don’t show up and others aren’t close to their Olympic form. Alina Zagitova fell on her ass 3 times and finished 5th in the 2018 worlds not long after a flawless gold medal at Pyeongchang. Tokyo is not going to trend late in the calendar. The IOC won’t want Olympic fatigue by pushing it too close to Beijing 2022, which begins February 4
When will this guy go away? You serve no purpose. Your contribution is zero. You do not represent the athletes you supposedly serve. Please just go.
“No, no, no, no, no” — Jotaro Kujo
thats a bit big