Sigh of Relief! IOC announces deadlines for Tokyo Olympics qualifications

Tokyo, April 8: Several questions were raised after the Tokyo Olympics 2020 was postponed, one of the questions being the qualification period for the Olympics with many qualifying events being postponed. So, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has approved a series of amendments to the Tokyo 2020 qualification systems principles in which it stated that the new qualification period deadline will be 29 June 2021.

 

 

 

The qualification has brought relief as many athletes were worried due to postponement of the qualifying events and for others, this postponement has given hope for the athletes for preparing themselves. The IOC stated that "the new qualification period deadline is 29 June 2021, and International Federations (IFs) can define their own qualification period deadlines should these be prior to this date. The revised final sport entries deadline has now been set on 5 July 2021."

 

As earlier reported that the athletes who have already obtained an Olympic qualification quota place will retain despite the postponement. In all, 57 percent of the total athlete quota places have already been allocated so far, with approximately 5,000 athlete quota places still to be assigned.

 

About the eligibility criteria, the IOC has said athletes who have qualified remain qualified as it is possible for IFs to extend the age eligibility criteria if such exist. It has allowed the athletes who are eligible in 2020 to remain eligible to compete in 2021. However, the only exception will be if the IF establishes that the one-year relaxation of the upper age limit represents safety and/or medical risk for athletes.

 

It further added, "Athlete health is the guiding principle in the scheduling of any remaining Olympic qualification events. With the postponement of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 until 2021, the IOC has urged that any such events be confirmed only once the COVID-19 impacts can be assessed, allowing fair access and appropriate preparation for all competing athletes and teams."

 

The IOC has made the revision to address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic leading to finalizing new dates of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, replacing the previous version approved by the IOC Executive Board in July 2017. Due to the deadly coronavirus pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics 2020 was rescheduled from 23 July 2021 to 8 August 2021.

 

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