Full of vainglory, IOC grandees sweat details about Tokyo 2020 while hiding big picture

The International Olympic Committee said some things Tuesday about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the coronavirus in the form of what it called a “communique,” because the simple word “statement” apparently is not good enough for these self-appointed pooh-bahs.

The dispatch from Olympus publicly addressed only the issue of how athletes who have yet to qualify for the Summer Games might do so, which shows the IOC is 1) rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic and/or 2) is so distanced from reality it won’t acknowledge the elephant in the room until the beast finishes shitting on them.

The statement tries to justify avoiding mention of the possibility these Summer Games might not take place as scheduled by saying, “any speculation at this moment would be counter-productive.”

That comes at the end of a paragraph reading, “The IOC remains fully committed to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and with more than four months to go before the Games there is no need for any drastic decisions at this stage. . .”

There is no need for “drastic” decisions now.

What is needed is for the IOC to tell the truth about whether it is considering alternatives to 2020.  It is foolhardy for the IOC to say speculation would be counter-productive when every person with a functioning brain is wondering what decisions the IOC might take if “drastic” action is needed and when such decisions might be made. When IOC President Thomas Bach said the organization’s executive board had not mentioned the words “cancellation” or “postponement” at its March 4 meeting, Bach was (pick one or more) disingenuous, irresponsible or avowing a Trumpian relationship with the truth.

In a tweet posted early Tuesday afternoon, Canadian hockey legend , six-time Olympian, IOC member and doctor-in-training Hayley Wickenheiser called out the IOC for its failure to address the big picture.

“I think the IOC insisting this will move ahead, with such conviction, is insensitive and irresponsible given the state of humanity,” said Wickenheiser, also a member of the IOC athletes commission.

But, gee, wasn’t it nice that the IOC statement “encourages all athletes to continue to prepare for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 as best they can?”

France’s Kevin Mayer, world record-holder in the decathlon, pointed out in Tuesday’s editions of L’Equipe that it was becoming nearly impossible for athletes to train at all, with facilities around the world closing in an effort to stop the spread of the virus.

That is why Mayer said, “I would really like them to postpone the Games,” as you can read in French on the screenshot above of the front page of Tuesday’s newspaper.

And it is why retired two-time Olympic distance runner Kara Goucher of the United States said on Twitter:  “The mental strength it takes right now to continue to train, with no clear path and with limited opportunity, is so hard.”

And this tweet from reigning Olympic pole vault champion (and 2017 world champion) Katerina Stefanidi of Greece:

“This is not about how things will be in 4 months. This is about how things are now. The IOC wants us to keep risking our health, our family’s health and public health to train every day? You are putting us in danger right now, today, not in 4 months.”

The IOC always says it is all about the athletes. The athletes now are calling its bluff.

To those who contend the playing field will be level because everyone is in the same boat, may I point out that the boat is taking on oceans of water?  And how fair would it be if, as some suggest, the coronavirus outbreak in southern hemisphere countries might accelerate as their summer and the Olympics approach?

It sounds noble for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to have said, as quoted in the IOC statement, “I want to hold the Olympics and Paralympics perfectly, as proof that the human race will conquer the new coronavirus. . .”

His sentiment is also vainglorious, especially in its reference to perfection.

I have covered 19 Olympic Games and still love the Olympics more than any rational person should.  I am fully aware of and have written extensively about the corruption and posturing of the tone deaf people in charge of them, about the indefensible IOC accession to the demands of authoritarian regimes that make a mockery of the Olympic “ideals,” about the outrageous and politically motivated judging decisions that steal victories from some athletes.  I have tried to balance that against the moments when I have seen the Olympics briefly carry the torch for our better natures.

I will never forget hearing Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu balance, with pitch perfect perspective, his joy in winning the 2014 gold medal against the devastation wrought by an earthquake and tsunami in his native Sendai.  “Yes, I am an Olympic gold medalist now, but this medal cannot help the recovery in that region,” Hanyu, then just 19, said through a translator. “I feel like I am helpless here.”  That was one of the many moments when I felt the Olympics had contributed to the expression and expansion of human decency.

Can there be such moments in Tokyo this summer, if everyone still is looking over his or his shoulder at an invisible threat?  In what seems the incredibly unlikely event of the threat being substantially quashed by late May, would the unease disappear enough for anyone competing or coaching or organizing or watching in Japan to feel unadulterated joy?  Is a little joy better than none?  At what risk?

The IOC says it will follow recommendations of the World Health Organization.  What that means is the IOC undoubtedly hopes the WHO will make the decision for them, as health officials in Quebec did for the International Skating Union in cancelling last Wednesday the World Figure Skating Championships that were to open this Wednesday in Montreal.

Left to decide for itself, the IOC could not avoid weighing heavily the financial ramifications of cancelling or postponing the 2020 Summer Games.

Not long before the IOC issued its whatever Tuesday, the European soccer association announced it was postponing the quadrennial European Championships until 2021.  That tournament was supposed to run from June 12 to July 12, the end only 12 days before the scheduled 2020 Olympic opening ceremony.

While that 24-team, single-sport European event pales in scope to the Summer Olympics, the postponement will have a cost of between $220 million and $330 million, according to L’Equipe.  Even with insurance potentially covering some of what the IOC calls Olympic “stakeholders,” the losses from a postponed or cancelled Olympics would be proportionately higher.

Remember that the IOC grandees just allowed an Olympic boxing qualifying event in London to go on from Saturday through Monday.  Would you trust the IOC to be the final arbiter on the fate of the 2020 Olympics?