World athletics chief Sebastian Coe believes all sports will need to make compromises with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics being postponed until sometime next year.
Coe says sports need to compromise for Tokyo 2020 & warns potential dopers
RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT VIDEO SHOWS: INTERVIEW WITH WORLD ATHLETICS PRESIDENT, SEBASTIAN COE, FILE FOOTAGE OF TOKYO 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES, FILE FOOTAGE OF EUGENE, OREGON - THE VENUE FOR THE 2021 WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS SHOWS: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 25, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD ATHLETICS PRESIDENT, SEBASTIAN COE, SAYING: (TALKING ABOUT SELECTING NEW DATES FOR THE TOKYO 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES) "No, I think we want to work alongside the International Olympic Committee, we've always done so in the past.
We have no reason to stop that now.
And Thomas (Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee) is right.
I've described it as a matrix.
He's described it as a jigsaw.
But you can't just lift one of those pieces of the jigsaw and suddenly start another puzzle in a year's time without there having to be flexibility and ramifications." 2.
WHITE FLASH 3.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD ATHLETICS PRESIDENT, SEBASTIAN COE, SAYING: "Now that the Olympic movement has decided postpone the Games until next year, we will need to be clear about when those games are planned to be re-enacted and that's probably conversations that are certainly taking place over the next few days.
And our sport of course has the added challenge of a world championship next year.
I know our headquarter teams have already been in contact with Oregon Organizing Committee.
So, this is the knock-on affect.
So, we need to be clear and careful and respectful.
But, there will need to be flexibility but it will have to be done in a way that it doesn't seriously damage international federations as well.
Look, I am sure we will figure out a way through this because that's what we do in sport." 4.
WHITE FLASH 5.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD ATHLETICS PRESIDENT, SEBASTIAN COE, SAYING: "Look, at this very moment, I think it's - we all have to be open about it.
There's nothing off the table and there's nothing on the table.
Nothing is ruled in or out.
We have to just really understand what the landscape is.
And of course, as an international federation, I do also have six continental groups who make up World Athletics.
The too will be figuring out how they will be staging their continental championships.
And of course the Europeans, which is very important to all of us.
European championships are scheduled to take place towards the end of this year, after the Olympics Games had they not been postponed, into August and September.
So, there's a twin challenge there about where would they go and not buttress up against an Olympic Games and a World Championships and other events.
And we're only really talking about athletics.
When you throw into the mix other concepts - the European football championships have moved a year.
You then start coming up against World Cups and winter Games.
This is going to take some thinking about.
But we do have a little bit of thinking time now to be able to make sure that we do that in a way that's respectful but recognizes the need for flexibility here." 6.
WHITE FLASH 7.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD ATHLETICS PRESIDENT, SEBASTIAN COE, SAYING: "It was absolutely the right decision and it was a decision we welcomed.
As you know, I wrote to the International Olympic Committee, to the president (Thomas Bach) on Sunday (March 22) having consulted with all my area presidents, my continental presidents and the large part of the athletes and my council and executive board.
And look, we had been managing our way as best we possibly could, but it had become patently clear by the latter part of last week and into the weekend that this was a losing battle.
That we were losing the integrity of the competition.
We had athletes who simply were not able to train properly, public facilities were closing by the hour.
And, you know, at the beginning of this whole process - weeks ago we were talking about weeks.
Then we were talking about days and then we were talking about hours.
And actually, in the last few days its felt like we've been responding and having to firefight on a minute by minute basis." 8.
WHITE FLASH 9.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD ATHLETICS PRESIDENT, SEBASTIAN COE, SAYING: "This is very different from the usual type of challenge that any athlete confronts.
For them, the concern about going out and getting infected is not just about them.
Its about their children, maybe, their parents, possibly their grandparents.
So, we had the ability to take them out of that turmoil and I'm really pleased that we did." 10.
WHITE FLASH 11.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD ATHLETICS PRESIDENT, SEBASTIAN COE, SAYING: (TALKING ABOUT ATHLETES WHO MIGHT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEIR BEING FEWER ANTI-DOPING TESTS IN THE LEAD UP TO NEXT YEAR'S COMPETITIONS) "The only advice I would give every athlete is, don't play roulette on the concept that intelligent testing is going to do anything other than track you down.
Some years ago, we moved away from the concept that it was just about numbers, it's not about numbers.
The athletic integrity unit is at the top of its game.
And no athlete should be seduced into thinking this is a sort of moratorium on our fight against drugs.
It is not.
And if they choose to step beyond the boundaries that we have clearly set and the athletic integrity unit and World Athletics is fearless about protecting, then they will come undone." TOKYO, JAPAN (FILE - DECEMBER 15, 2019) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 12.
OLYMPIC RINGS OUTSIDE NATIONAL STADIUM 13.
VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF NATIONAL STADIUM 14.
VARIOUS INTERIORS OF NATIONAL STADIUM 15.
WOODEN BEAMS IN STADIUM ROOF 16.
VARIOUS INTERIORS OF NATIONAL STADIUM TOKYO, JAPAN (FILE - JANUARY 17, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 17.
SHOES BEING DISPLAYED ON WALL IN ASICS SHOP 18.
CUSTOMERS INSIDE STORE 19.
CUSTOMERS CHECKING RUNNING SHOES 20.
RUNNING SHOES BEING DISPLAYED, PRINTED LETTERS READING (English): "TOKYO 2020" EUGENE, OREGON, UNITED STATES (FILE - OCTOBER 10, 2019 (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 21.
VARIOUS OF CONSTRUCTION SITE OF NEW STADIUM AT UNIVERSITY OF OREGON TO HOST 2021 WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS 22.
INTERIOR UNIVERSITY OF OREGON - WIDE OF OREGON21 KICKOFF EVENT WITH OREGON GOVERNOR, KATE BROWN, WELCOMING CROWD 23.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) GOVERNOR OF OREGON, KATE BROWN, SAYING: "The baton has been passed from Doha to Oregon." 24.
VARIOUS OF WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS OREGON21 SIGNS STORY: World athletics chief Sebastian Coe said on Wednesday (March 25) that all sports will need to make compromises with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics being postponed until sometime next year.
Coe had suggested on Tuesday (March 24) that next year's Eugene world athletics championships could slip to 2022 as a consequence of Tokyo 2020 being postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, the double Olympic champion said nothing was off the table as his sports federation along with almost every other will need to work with the International Olympic Committee in order to make the 2021 sporting calendar function following the end of the pandemic.
Any decision on dates must wait, however, for the International Olympic Committee to state exactly when the Tokyo Games will take place.
Tuesday's IOC announcement said the July 24-Aug.
9 Games would be held no later than the summer of 2021.
Moving the world championships to 2022 might also suit Eugene since it also hosts the the U.S. Olympic trials for athletics which are almost certain to be moved to 2021 and staging both events in the same year could challenge the resources of the Oregon city of about 170,000.
Coe, who chaired the London 2012 organising committee, said the decision to postpone Tokyo was absolutely the right decision even if sorting out the calendar would be a huge task.
Coe said athletes needed certainty and not to be put in a dangerous position where they risked breaking government or public health authority lockdown edicts just to train.
Coe also warned would-be dopers that the coronavirus pandemic and widespread suspension of competition will not shelter them from repercussions.
The postponement and cancellation of various championships means athletes will face much less testing.
However Coe said there was no chance of drug cheats slipping through the net.
(Production: Tim Hart)