Blake: Travel restrictions could block return to competition
Published:Wednesday | May 13, 2020 | 12:25 AMDaniel Wheeler/ Gleaner Writer
JAMAICA ATHLETICS Administrative Association (JAAA) president Dr Warren Blake believes a proposed return to track and field competition could be hindered if safety when travelling internationally cannot be guaranteed.
Yesterday World Athletics released a provisional schedule of the 2020 Diamond League season which has been delayed since April because of the coronavirus pandemic. Among the changes are the reduction of total meets this year from 14 to 11, the absence of the Diamond League final and no points being allocated to competitors. There will be no events in July and the first half of August. The revised timetable would see the season begin in Monaco on August 14 and continue until mid October.
Blake believes that should the restrictions on international travel remain in place, it is likely that only athletes native to the countries hosting the meets would be able to participate.
Quarantined
“Part of the problem is that people might not be able to travel, you might be quarantined for two weeks. So some of these meets are going to end up being mainly for athletes native to that country unless there is full return to international travel where people can travel across boundaries and not be quarantined,” Blake told The Gleaner. “That is going to be one of the big challenges going forward to ensure it is safe to travel across boundaries.”
The three events removed from the 2020 season are Anniversary Games in London (scheduled for July 4), the Weltklasse Zurich (scheduled for September 9-11) in Switzerland and the International Mohammed VI d’Athletisme de Rabat in Morocco (originally rescheduled to May 31). Several countries now have travel restrictions barring most foreign visitors. According to the press release, meet directors will determine the disciplines and the format for the events which could be done in “innovative, alternate” formats. Furthermore, these measures must be announced two months before the start of the meets.
But Blake says that if the respective countries experience a spike in cases, it will damage any effort made to resume the athletics calendar.
“If a second peak happens, then it’s going to put everything in turmoil. If some of the cases suddenly start to shoot skyward, then some sort of pullback will take place and that is going to disrupt any sort of athletics entertainment that can take place,” he said. “You still have to watch what is happening internationally.”
He said that the athletes have the power to decide whether to compete and believes the provisional timetable will give them a target to push towards.