“It’s uncomfortable [d’être dans l’attente]. Will the Olympic Games be postponed or canceled? We want to be fixed as soon as possible to make an optimal preparation. “ Like the open water swimmer Marc-Antoine Olivier, many athletes wonder, while the consequences of the coronavirus put the planet – and the sports world – at a standstill.
Basketball, handball, athletics, sailing, football, skateboarding, horse riding… the various events involving the domes are spread like aligned dominoes, and a murmur emerges: what if the coronavirus went so far as to infect the Olympic Games?
Organized from July 24 to August 9 in Tokyo, the XXXIIe Summer Olympics are under threat, although Japanese authorities are doing everything to reassure. “Neither the word cancellation nor the word postponement was mentioned”, launched, for its part, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, in early March.
Before even imagining a cancellation, which would be a first since the Second World War, or an Olympic spectacle in camera, unprecedented and necessarily sad, athletes from around the world already have more pressing concerns: those of how they will be able prepare in the best conditions, and even, for some, simply qualify.
Focused on their preparation, many of the athletes questioned confess that they did not see the blow coming. “Three days ago, when we saw several sports competitions canceled, we started to think:” What if the European championships were canceled? ” Suddenly, it took a lot more reality in our daily life ”, sums up Cédric Joly, reigning canoe world champion in individual slalom.
Qualification at risk
“It’s pretty scary, we don’t know what’s going to happen, we want to tell ourselves that we’re going to do as usual, but it’s not possible, it’s difficult to plan”, notes Camille Lecointre. With Aloïse Retornaz, she must defend the French chances in 470, in Olympic sailing, and had to return, Thursday March 12, in emergency to France after the cancellation of the world championship in the Balearic Islands, an important test before the Olympics.
You can be a record holder in the world of decathlon and not yet have your sesame in your pocket
And yet, the 470 duo have long won their sesame for Tokyo, unlike many athletes. “I tell myself that I did well to achieve the minima during the French championships, corroborates pitcher Mélina Robert-Michon, Rio 2016 Olympic silver medalist. For my comrades who hoped to do so during the canceled European Cup throws, it is more annoying. “ Because the Olympic qualification process is far from over. Several Olympic qualifying competitions or tournaments (TQO) must still take place between now and May 31, the deadline set for the moment by the IOC. One can thus be a record holder in the world of decathlon, like Kevin Mayer, and not yet have your sesame in your pocket.
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