19 Mar 2020

African National Olympic Committees on Wednesday (March 18) voted unanimously to support the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s position that the Olympics will be held in Tokyo as planned, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The voting was done through teleconferencing, and according to Botswana National Olympic Committee Chief Executive Officer, Tuelo Serufho, Botswana was amongst the countries that supported that the Olympic should go on as planned.

He said with four and half months left, the view was that given the unpredictability of the COVID-19 situation, it might not be prudent to make any changes to games time plan.

He said the African National Olympic Committees and the IOC were encouraged by the many measures being taken by world leaders to contain the virus, adding that African National Olympic Committees were confident that the efforts would bear fruit soon.

Serufho, further said Japan was committed to hosting the Games and African National Olympic Committees had confidence in them.

“We are confident that both they and the IOC will safeguard the health of athletes, and the thoughts of African National Olympic Committees and the IOC are with all the affected countries and their people,” he said.
Serufho explained that the position of the IOC was in part, based on counsel from a Working Group of Experts led by WHO, and whose position was that it was too early to make a call. 

The working group, he said was monitoring developments on a daily basis, adding postponing or cancelling the Olympics would add to the fear and anxiety currently engulfing the world.

He stressed that the African National Olympic Committees were happy that the IOC and international federations were adapting qualification systems to minimise negative effects to athletes’ attempts.

Meanwhile, IOC issued a press release indicating that they remain fully committed to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and there is no need for any drastic decisions at this stage and that any speculation at this moment would be counter-productive.

The release says, the IOC encourages all athletes to continue to prepare for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as best they can.

The IOC said they will keep supporting the athletes by consulting with them and their respective NOCs, and by providing them with the latest information and developments, which are accessible for athletes worldwide on the Athlete365 website and via their respective NOCs and international federations.

“We will continue to act in a responsible way and have agreed the following overriding principles about the staging of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, to protect the health of everyone involved and to support the containment of the virus, and to safeguard the interests of the athletes and of Olympic sport,” he said. Ends