Even in (finally) arriving at the right choice by postponing 2020 Olympics, actions of top U.S. and IOC officials were inglorious

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Even in (finally) arriving at the right choice by postponing 2020 Olympics, actions of top U.S. and IOC officials were inglorious

Now that sanity has prevailed, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have been moved to 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic (but will still be called the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the International Olympic Committee’s parallel universe), what can we take away from the way the decision was reached and about its ramifications?

A handful of thoughts:

1. The IOC’s abysmal handling of its messaging over the last month will be a case study in how not to do public relations.

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IOC vice-president DeFrantz says she has no official word yet on 2020 postponement

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IOC vice-president DeFrantz says she has no official word yet on 2020 postponement

International Olympic Committee vice president Anita DeFrantz of the United States said Monday she had not yet received any official word that a final decision on any postponement of the 2020 Olympics has been made.

“If that is the case, then you know more than a vice-president of the International Olympic Committee,” DeFrantz said via telephone from her home in Santa Monica, Calif. “It would be news to me.”

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IOC says 2020 Olympics decision within four weeks; former marketing chief says 2021 only alternative; Aussies, Canada say no to 2020 while U.S. walks IOC line

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IOC says 2020 Olympics decision within four weeks; former marketing chief says 2021 only alternative; Aussies, Canada say no to 2020 while U.S. walks IOC line

Under growing pressure from the world sports community to put off the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, the International Olympic Committee finally used the word “postponement” in conceding Sunday that its steadfast “The Games Will Still Go On” position in the face of the coronavirus pandemic was untenable.

The IOC’s announcement, in the form of a statement and a letter to athletes from its president, Thomas Bach, did not rule out the possibility of the Games opening in a scaled-down form as scheduled this July 24 and made only two definitive statements:

*Cancellation of the 2020 Olympics is “not on our agenda.”

*The IOC expects to be able within four weeks to have a decision on when the 2020 Olympics will take place.

An hour prior to the Sunday announcement, a well-connected Olympic marketing executive had told me in a telephone conversation that he saw a postponement to 2021 as the decision.

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U.S. Olympic leaders decline leadership role on fate of 2020 Tokyo Olympics, refuse to call publicly for postponement

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U.S. Olympic leaders decline leadership role on fate of 2020 Tokyo Olympics, refuse to call publicly for postponement

The leaders of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, chief executive Sarah Hirshland and board chair Susanne Lyons, did just what I expected in a Friday media teleconference,

They equivocated.

Completely passed the buck to the International Olympic Committee on the fate of the 2020 Olympics rather than have the USOPC stake out a higher moral ground, which the IOC long has been unwilling to do on far more matters than just the coronavirus issue.

Fell back on bureaucratic speak.

Repeated several variations on the mantra, as expressed by Lyons, “I can assure you there is no circumstance when the USOC would send our athletes into harm’s way.”

Declined to take a stand showing they meant what that mantra implies.

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U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee needs to show it cares for athletes by speaking truth to IOC (petty) power

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U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee needs to show it cares for athletes by speaking truth to IOC (petty) power

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee has deservedly faced withering criticism for its failure to act on knowledge that former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar had sexually abused hundreds of athletes under his care.

While that criticism has largely been directed at the USOPC’s former top leadership, the current regime also should not escape condemnation for its amoral legal posturing to avoid liability as part of a shameful settlement proposal with the Nassar survivors.

The overall picture is that of an organization thrilled by a California appellate court ruling last October that the USOPC did not have a legal responsibility to protect athletes rather than that of an organization that should live by a moral responsibility to do exactly that.

Now the USOPC has an opportunity to do something that won’t cleanse the horrible ethical stain of its actions and inactions in the Nassar situation but will show it actually cares about athletes.

The USOPC must publicly tell the International Olympic Committee that it has failed both athletes and the world at large by continuing to take a full-steam-ahead approach to the 2020 Summer Olympics in the face of the global coronavirus pandemic.

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