The president of the Dutch Cycling Federation (KNWU) expressed opposition to holding the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo as planned in light of the coronavirus pandemic, arguing along with USA Swimming to postpone the Games. The Olympic committees of Norway and Brazil also supported postponing the Games to a future date.

The IOC said this week that "there is no need to take any drastic decisions at this stage" and that it remains "fully committed to hosting the 2020 Tokyo Olympics." Preparations for the Games continue despite the fact that the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases worldwide has doubled to nearly 300,000 in the past seven days, and the number of cases outside China far exceeds the number of cases reported in China.

Wintels argued that it is unfair to put the athletes in the position of training for the Games.

"In the current world situation, we consider it unwise and almost irresponsible for athletes and their coaches to continue preparing for the Games here and around the world under terribly difficult and unhealthy conditions," KNWU President Marcel Wintels told the news agency ANP.

The Dutch Cycling Federation won two gold medals at the last Rio 2016 Olympics, Anna van der Breggen in the women's road race and Elise Ligtre in the women's keirin, second only to Great Britain.

Wintels does not want to speak for the other sports federations under the Dutch Olympic Committee (NOC*NSF), but knows that similar sentiments exist. The NOC*NSF knows how we think," he told NOS.nl (opens in new tab).

"We can responsibly guide, promote, and protect our top athletes in the process of reaching their Olympic goals, or we can conclude, heartbreakingly, that their continuation and participation in the Games scheduled for July 2020 is no longer justified in light of the current circumstances. . For the Cycling Federation, we believe it is the latter," says Vintels.

With so many sporting events cancelled, national federations are struggling with the Olympic selection process, and restrictions on personal contact and travel have hampered the efforts of anti-doping organizations, which admitted this week that UKAD and USADA have had to scale back testing.

Some countries, such as Spain, France, Andorra, and Italy, have drastic restrictions, banning cyclists from riding outside, while the Netherlands, Belgium, the US, and the UK still have no such restrictions. This inequality raises the question of whether it is fair to host the Olympics or the Tour de France.

However, these arguments are secondary to the great risks to the health of people around the world posed by the thousands of athletes, support staff, officials, media, and spectators gathered in one place.

"The KNWU board and management cannot possibly believe that the inability to provide protected and safe training facilities for the Olympic athletes on the one hand and the remaining belief that the Games should simply begin in July on the other is justified.

"There is nothing worse than taking away the Olympic dream that athletes and coaching teams have been working on for years," says Vintels.

"We, the Cycling Federation, can send the strongest and most promising delegation ever.

"As long as the Games remain their goal, we will maintain this impossible balancing act for our athletes and coaches.