Rob Heffernan has slammed the International Olympic Committee for delaying its decision about a possible postponement of the Tokyo Games, branding the IOC’s dithering as “ridiculous”.
The world champion race walker is coaching four athletes who are set to compete at the Games, but he believes that if the event goes ahead as planned, it will be unfair to athletes and a danger to public health.
“At an Olympic Games where most of the volunteers would be elderly, you’re risking lives,” he said.
“You’re also risking igniting this thing again if it does die down (by July). From a health point of view, it’s scandalous.
"The right decision is to postpone it a minimum of three months, if not a year.”
On Sunday, the IOC said it is considering a number of options, including a delayed start or a stripped-back version of the Games that could begin as planned on July 24.
In a poll of 4,000 athletes run by The Athletics Association, 78% said the Games should be postponed with 87% saying the outbreak had affected their training.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe wrote to the IOC last weekend to say an Olympics in July 2020 was “neither feasible or desirable” and that “we owe it to our athletes to give them respite where we can”, while Peter Sherrard, CEO of the Olympic Federation of Ireland, admitted yesterday the Games are “likely to be postponed”.
Despite the disruption to training and racing schedules, Heffernan’s athletes are preparing as if the Games will go ahead.
He currently has four race walkers under his guidance: Irishmen Brendan Boyce and David Kenny, along with South Africa’s Wayne Snyman and Britain’s Callum Wilkinson.
But with the Japanese government involved in a game of chicken with the IOC — both of them not wanting to carry the financial burden of being the one to trigger a cancellation — athletes have been left in limbo.
“It’s ridiculous, it makes no sense,” said Heffernan, an Olympic bronze medallist in 2012.
“It’s not fair on the athletes, with the virus still around, to entertain putting people’s lives at risk.
Track athletes are not able to train properly and to have to peak on that day would be very, very hard.
Despite that, his charges have been working as hard as ever, with Boyce logging over 100 miles in training and Kenny close to the same distance.
The World Race Walking Team Championships in May, a key preparation event, have already been cancelled, and in its place Heffernan plans to pace Boyce through a 50km effort that same weekend in early May by running two metres in front of him, passing the marathon distance (42.2km) in under 3:10.
“If the Olympics are postponed, we still need to improve on technique, strength, endurance, speed,” said Heffernan.
“We have to put the training blocks in so we don’t de-train.
"Hopefully things will be back up and running by the summer, but if not, it’s going to catapult you on and you’ll be stronger next year.
"You have to drive on.”
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