Scheduled from August 25 to 30 in Paris, these championships are the second major event of which athletics must be deprived this year, after the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics to 2021.

The European Athletics Championships, scheduled for August 25-30 in Paris, are canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the organization announced on Thursday.

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"We really tried everything"

After the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games to 2021, athletics is deprived of its second major event of the year and is heading for an almost white season, the major meetings having already been scheduled until the end of the month. June. The decision to cancel was made after a meeting of the executive committee of the organizing committee, preceded by a videoconference with the French Athletics Federation (FFA), the Ministries of Sport and the Interior and the inter-ministerial delegation. at major events. 

"We really tried everything, explained Jean Gracia, the president of the organizing committee. We all hoped that the situation could improve quickly, unfortunately, this is not the case. We even asked the medical commission of the French Federation to make an assessment of the measures to be taken to organize the event. We have studied all the possibilities, including that of reducing the number of athletes per event or putting one spectator in two. " The president of the FFA André Giraud for his part indicated having "taken into account the risk assessment as it was presented by the State services". 

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The second major meeting of the year prevented by the Covid-19

This is a financial blow for the French Federation, whose national competitions are suspended until the end of July. Just over 50% of tickets for the Charléty stadium in Paris had already been sold for an estimated budget of 17 million euros. But the FFA claims to be able to complete a balanced exercise for 2020. The athletes are themselves deprived of the second big meeting of the year, after the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, while 1,400 participants from one fifty European countries were expected in Paris.

The start of the international season has been postponed until July: of the first nine stages of the Diamond League, which was to open on April 17 in Doha (Qatar), eight are postponed, and Oslo (Norway) has decided to completely modify its competition (no public, single-athlete races) to offer a sort of exhibition on June 11.