Athletics Australia supports the view to postpone the Tokyo Olympics

Athletics Australia completely supports the view of the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) and Paralympics Australia to postpone the Olympic and Paralympic Games until July 2021.

Athletics Australia CEO Darren Gocher said; “This pandemic is bigger than sport, we need to support all Australian’s health and wellbeing and postponing the Olympics and Paralympics will help with that. With COVID-19 and the associated risks, it is not safe for our athletes, nor the health and safety of their families and the broader community for athletes to continue training towards the 2020 Games."

“We 100% sympathise with athletes who have put in a life time of work to get to this point but we must put the safety and security of all Australian’s first,” Mr Gocher said. “While we recognise the complexities around a postponement, nothing is more important than the health and safety of our athletes and the world community”.

“We thank the AOC and PA for their stances; it will help give our athletes a bit more certainty”.

Athletics Australia would also like to thank the athletes and their families for their on-going commitment to the sport and support during these unprecedented times.

We remain hopeful that the IOC and IPC will agree with the decision to postpone the Olympic and Paralympic Games.