As reported by most mainstream news outlets, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games will be postponed due to the current coronavirus pandemic. When speaking to USA Today earlier on Monday, International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound (Canada) said, “On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided. The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know.”
What Pound does not know, nor anyone else including Japan Olympic Committee President Yasuhiro Yamashita, is for how long the Olympics might be pushed back. Pound did tell USA Today that the Games would likely be moved to sometime next year. “We will postpone this and begin to deal with all the ramifications of moving this, which are immense,” he concluded.
The news surrounding the postponement of Tokyo 2020 arrives amid what has been a harrowing time for sports across the globe. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, every major sports league has been put on hold. Just two weeks ago, the National Basketball Association quickly suspended their season; following closely behind were the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball, among others. At the Pan-American Olympic Wrestling Qualifier March 13-15 in Ottawa, wrestling was contested without fans in the arena.
United World Wrestling has yet to release a statement regarding how an Olympic postponement will affect the athletes. Thus far, two qualifying tournaments are already in the books — the ’19 World Championships and the aforementioned Pan-Am Qualifier. However, four more have been postponed (Africa/Oceania, Morocco; European, Budapest; Asian (TBD); and the Last Chance World Olympic Games Qualifier, Bulgaria).
Pan-Am Qualifier Highlight Video
In honor of the four United States Greco-Roman athletes who qualified their weight categories last week — Ildar Hafizov (60 kg, Army/WCAP), Alex Sancho (67 kg, Army/WCAP, world #19), Joe Rau (87 kg, TMWC/Chicago RTC, world #7), and G’Angelo Hancock (97 kg, Sunkist, world #7) — please enjoy this just-released video displaying some of their great good work in Ottawa.
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Listen to “5PM35: Pan Am Qualifier Recap” on Spreaker.
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