New Delhi (AFP)
The sport must follow the guidelines for coronavirus but also make its "own decisions", said the boss of world athletics Sebastian Coe, while leaders are struggling to relaunch major competitions.
"We must be guided by what governments, WHO and local authorities tell us, but we must also make our own decisions and make reasonable compromises," said the president of the International Federation (World Athletics) on the Indian television channel WION.
"At some point, a sport can decide that it is ready to organize events even if it is not always with the approval of these authorities," said Coe, 63.
"We will be respectful, but we must make decisions in the best interests of our sport and our athletes," said the Briton, double Olympic 1,500m champion (1980, 1984).
The Covid-19 pandemic has almost paralyzed world sport, in particular forcing the organizers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to postpone it to the summer of 2021 (July 23 - August 8).
Sebastian Coe felt that no one could give absolute assurance that the Olympics would be held.
"There is no point in speculating about something that will take place in more than a year," said the former head of the London 2012 Olympics organization.
"We are trying to give athletes some clarity on the schedule and speculation from scientists and medical experts is not helping," he said. A Japanese infectious disease specialist, Kentaro Iwata, said at the end of April that he was "pessimistic" about the possibility that the Olympic Games could take place in July 2021.
"I hope the pandemic will be contained so that we don't have to cancel the Games," added the boss of World Athletics.
The Games should be canceled if the pandemic is not brought under control by next year, said the president of the organizing committee for the Olympic Games Yoshiro Mori at the end of April. Subsequently, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had estimated that the Olympics would be "difficult" to organize if the pandemic was not contained by the summer of 2021.
© 2020 AFP