Canadian Olympic officials on Sunday urged postponement of the Tokyo Games, saying that in view of the coronavirus pandemic they won’t send...
Canadian Olympic officials on Sunday urged postponement of the Tokyo Games, saying that in view of the coronavirus pandemic they won’t send a team in the summer of 2020.
“The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC), backed by their Athletes’ Commissions, National Sports Organizations and the Government of Canada, have made the difficult decision to not send Canadian teams to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the summer of 2020,” the COC said in a statement that ratchets up the pressure on the International Olympic Committee to postpone the Games scheduled to start on July 24.
The IOC has come under increasing pressure to push back the games from sporting federations and athletes worried about the health risks as the COVID-19 global death tally went past 13,000 on Sunday.
RELEASE: The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee have made the difficult decision to not send Canadian teams to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the summer of 2020: https://t.co/HyOBA5wwp4 pic.twitter.com/x9OWABVxMA
— Team Canada PR (@TeamCanadaPR) March 23, 2020
IOC president Thomas Bach said a decision on when the Games would take place would be made “within the next four weeks.”
Canadian Olympic and Paralympic authorities, however, said they wouldn’t wait that long, urging the IOC to postpone the Games for...