French Federation Demands Transparency, Postponement of 2020 Olympic Games

In a strongly worded press release after a videoconference with its Executive Committee, the French Swimming Federation (FFN) implored the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to consider postponing the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo and asked for transparency in its decision-making process.

The President of the FFN, Gilles Sézionale, attached the press release [you can read the original press release (in French) here] to a tweet which read: “The French Swimming Federation was the first to react to the IOC’s press release [of Friday, March 20]. I officially wrote to the CNOSF (French National Olympic and Sports Committee), and to all its Olympic Federations, [to communicate] my disagreement and my amazement at the indecency which consists of not studying the possibility of a postponement.”

Indeed, on Friday, March 13, while other countries were still in a wait-and-see mode, the FFN definitively shut down all sporting and administrative activities in French territories until June. The IOC held a teleconference with its board on March 17 during which it determined it was too early to make a pronouncement on the fate of the 2020 Games. On Friday, the CNOSF came out in solidarity with the IOC, and on Saturday the FFN published its rebuttal. [You can read today’s interview with IOC President Thomas Bach here.]

At the heart of the FFN’s statement are concerns for the worldwide health emergency and for sports equity. “Faced with the international nature of the unprecedented health crisis [of COVID-19]… the directors of the FFN consider that the priority is to fight against the propagation of the epidemic and that the current context does not allow us to calmly envisage the smooth running of the 2020 Olympic Games, scheduled from July 24 to August 9, 2020. They know the economic, organizational and financial risks of this major event but they ask the IOC to make every effort to be transparent and to study the options for holding and for postponing the Tokyo Olympic Games.”

In an interview published in Ouest France on Friday, Sézionale said, “Wanting to save the Games at any price, no doubt for the financial risks, for the spectacle, it’s irresponsible. The top priority must be people’s health. It’s sad to say but I think it will take the death of an Olympic athlete before people realize [the gravity of] the situation. Especially since we are seeing that, now in France, 50% of people hospitalized are under 60 years of age.

“This is secondary, but in fact certain athletes have stopped [training], like we have in France, and for several weeks now. But others haven’t stopped, or will start up again long before others. There will be a real inequity among athletes. All our pools are closed, which is logical given the situation. But in Italy, certain swimmers can still train. We will have an Olympic Games at three or four [different] speeds!”

Sézionale’s position of prudence and equity was immediately seconded by the President of the French Triathlon Federation. USA Swimming, USA Track & Field, Swimming Canada, and a member of Japan’s Olympic Committee, amongst others, have also asked for a postponement of the 2020 Games.

La Fédération Française de Natation a été la première à réagir au communiqué du CIO. J’ai officiellement écrit au CNOSF, et à l’ensemble de ses Fédérations Olympiques mon désaccord, et ma stupéfaction face à l’indécence qui consiste à ne pas étudier la possibilité d’un report. pic.twitter.com/c3z5tsFy0k

— Gilles Sezionale (@gsezionale) March 21, 2020