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Tokyo Olympics: big constraints for unvaccinated athletes

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, postponed to summer 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, are due to take place in six months. The date is approaching and the health situation is not improving internationally. Only the vaccine could allow the sporting event to take place under normal conditions, although probably without an audience. Athletes participating in the Games who will not be vaccinated will have to deal with “extremely difficult” conditions, Denis Masseglia, president of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF), warned Monday, January 25.

Denis Masseglia, who spoke Friday by videoconference with IOC President Thomas Bach, spoke of unvaccinated athletes “a form of quarantine, fortnight” once there in Japan, “where it will be necessary to do morning tests and evening ”. The issue of the vaccination of athletes for the Tokyo Olympics must be addressed on Wednesday at the IOC Executive Board, which officially encourages the vaccination of athletes, but cannot impose it.

For Denis Masseglia, “it is the staging of the Games which is the final stake”. “We are not alone. For our Japanese friends, receiving athletes and accredited people from all over the world requires a little precaution, ”he explained during a videoconference after a CNOSF congress, anticipating that the complicated reception conditions for them. unvaccinated athletes could have a “deterrent effect” on those who refuse to do so.

Athletes do not have priority for vaccination

In France, nearly a million priority people have been vaccinated, but the pace of vaccination is extremely varied around the world, with some countries not even having started yet. This question of the vaccination of athletes also raises an ethical problem.

“No question of athletes having priority over other categories of the population, but by the time the Games we can think that there is the possibility of having them vaccinated without this penalizing other people”, hopes Denis Masseglia.

In France, sports minister Roxana Maracineanu said she was “waiting” for a clear decision from the sports movement on the issue, “whether it be international federations or the IOC”. “I have taken a stand for vaccination, I hope that all French athletes will be in this perspective,” added Denis Masseglia.


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