COVID-19: IOC to talk to int'l federations and athletes

The International Olympic Committee will hold a conference call with International Federations (IFs) and Global Network of Athletes' Commissions respectively on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss COVID-19 and its impact on Tokyo 2020 and its qualification events.

"Since this situation started to develop some weeks ago, the IOC is constantly updating its stakeholders on the latest developments. The calls are part of this regular information sharing process," the IOC said in a statement to Xinhua news agency.

Many international sporting events have been postponed or cancelled amid the coronavirus crisis, though the Japanese government and the IOC continuously express their full commitment to delivering a safe Olympic Games in July this year.

With less than five months to go until the scheduled start of the Tokyo Games on July 24, the IOC is working with all other stakeholders to address the current situation.

"We are focused on assisting IFs and NOCs to address any challenges they may have with Olympic qualification events. Our goal is to help find consistent and credible solutions to replace any missed opportunities for qualification you may have had," the IOC said in a statement.

Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, welcomed the flexibility shown by the athletes, the International Federations and the National Olympic Committees facing challenges of qualification. The IOC is dedicated to ensure that athletes have fair access to qualification events and for qualification to take place on the field of play, Additionally, the IOC Athletes' Commission will host the conference call with the Global Network of Athletes' Commissions on Tuesday and will be focused exclusively on COVID-19 and its impact.

The IOC also works with Rights-Holding Broadcasters and sponsors in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

The IOC is also in close contact with the World Health Organization (WHO), the host city of Tokyo, the government of Japan and the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee through a joint task force which was set up in mid-February. The IOC will continue to follow the advice of the WHO.