Olympics-Athletes' association says change of culture needed at IOC

[jonathandomingue]

What would you do with a 40-year retirement? Is rising life expectancy a social benefit or burde ‘I earned cash as a drug Guinea Pig’: How to beat the flu… Drugs firm that hiked prices to NHS 12,000%: Actavis UK…

‘I’d back myself to have a crack at it’: Steve Bruce says… Wolves midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White returns to training two… ‘He was just the perfect captain’: Joe Cole names ‘leader’… Arsenal target Manuel Akanji has a ‘prove them wrong tattoo’…

‘I’d back myself to have a crack at it’: Steve Bruce says… ‘He was just the perfect captain’: Joe Cole names ‘leader’… Wolves midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White returns to training two… Arsenal target Manuel Akanji has a ‘prove them wrong tattoo’…

Schwab also revealed that the numerous organisations that operate under the WPA’s umbrella, including global footballers’ union FIFPro and cricketers’ equivalent FICA, had been contacted often by athletes worried about their prospects if they catch the virus.

LONDON, March 21 (Reuters) – Calls from sporting organisations for this year’s Tokyo Olympics to be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic gathered pace on Saturday with USA Track and Field (USATF) and Brazil’s Olympic Committee the latest to join the throng.

The IOC and Tokyo organizers have maintained that the July 24-Aug. 9 Games should go ahead as scheduled but WPA executive director Brendan Schwab said the IOC must consult more athletes before making decisions.

“We acknowledge that there are no perfect answers, and that this is a very complex and difficult decision, but this position (to postpone the Games) at least provides our athletes with the comfort of knowing that they will have adequate time to properly prepare themselves physically, mentally and emotionally to be able to participate in a safe and successful Olympic Games,” he wrote.

The Sport and Rights Alliance (SRA) and the World Players Association (WPA) said a “deep review and broader consultation” with athletes was required regarding the decision over whether the Games could run as planned.

Suggesting a year’s delay, he said the IOC was experienced in dealing with obstacles, citing the cancellations in 1916, 1940 and 1944 because of World Wars and the political boycotts of the Games in Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles in 1984.

“The IOC needs to elevate its dialogue with the full range of those most affected beyond sponsors and governments to an open multi-stakeholder process that brings to the table as equals player associations as the representatives of athletes and others most at risk,” WPA executive director Brendan Schwab said in a statement.

Norway’s Sports Federation and Olympic and Paralympic Committee (NIF) said it had written to IOC chief Thomas Bach calling for the Games to be postponed, even if the pandemic is under control in Japan by the summer.

World Players Association (WPA) executive director Brendan Schwab said that, while he was happy with the decision to postpone the Games, the delay in making it in the face of the growing coronavirus pandemic made the IOC look almost naive.

BERN, March 24 (Reuters) – A change of culture is needed at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to make decision-making more inclusive, an association representing 85,000 athletes around the world said on Tuesday, following the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics to 2021.

The New Deal swung to the rescue with the Home Owners´ Loan Corporation, which bought past-due mortgages with government bonds and blocked a wave of foreclosures. This same cascade of defaults existed in the Great Depression.

“The World Players Association has affiliates throughout the world and when sports of the level of the NBA, the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, international rugby… the football leagues in Europe are closing down because of the pandemic, the IOC was looking almost incredibly hopeful to the extent of being naive.” (Writing by Brian Homewood Editing by Toby Davis)

The chairman of UK Athletics said last week the Olympics should be called off to spare athletes the stress of trying to train in the grip of a pandemic which has killed around 12,000 people since the virus surfaced in China.

Minky Worden, the director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch which is part of the SRA coalition of global non-governmental organizations, said sports bodies had to be more transparent at this time.

“Given the highly unresolved situation in Norway and in large parts of the world, it is neither justifiable or desirable to send Norwegian athletes to the Olympics or Paralympics in Tokyo until the world community has put this pandemic behind them,” sports president Berit Kjøll said.

struggling to control the spread of the flu-like virus. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Tokyo 2020 organisers still insist the July 24-Aug.
9 showpiece will go ahead as planned despite Europe and the U.S.

“The virus is impacting the health, human rights, employment and careers of athletes but also the well-being of millions whose livelihoods are dependent on the sports industry and its supply chain,” Worden said.

[Author]

Posts