Athletes who test positive for COVID-19 at Tokyo 2020 will not be disqualified
LAUSANNE, June 16, 2021 - Athletes who are unable to compete at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games due to a confirmed positive COVID-19 test result will be marked as DNS (“Did Not Start”), rather than disqualified. And in a situation where teams or athletes are ruled out from the final of an event, they will receive a silver medal.
KEY PRINCIPLES These are part of the key principles of the Sport-Specific Regulations (SSR) developed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and each of the 32 International Federation (IF) on the Olympic programme in a bid to “keep the integrity of competition”, according to IOC sports director Kit McConnell.
INTEGRITY OF COMPETITION McConnell acknowledged that each sport will have “slightly different rules” to deal with COVID-19 cases, but the SSR is to ensure a “degree of consistency”.
“We have come up with key principles which we communicated last week at the IOC Executive Board meeting,” said McConnell.
“All these reflect the fact that we are looking to keep the integrity of competition and keep the competition schedule and formats as planned.”
REPLACEMENTS The key principles also state that where there is enough time to replace DNS athletes/teams, competition positions should be filled and matches should take place, and this could lead to multiple medals if the replacements are made in gold medal matches.
“If an athlete has to withdraw, then their place would be made available by the next highest ranked and eligible athlete,” said McConnell.
MINIMUM RESULT “Depending on the competition format and scheduled, a replacement team would move into the empty space, for example the quarter-final or semi-final. The team that could not take part in the semi-finals would be replaced, if possible, by the team that they played in the quarter-finals. In the final point of that jigsaw, athletes and teams should not lose the minimum result that they would have obtained.
“If the athlete was not able to compete in the final and would have receive a diploma for their participation, they will receive that. If an athlete would have taken part in a medal event but cannot, they will receive the minimum level of medal they would have received for example in a final. They will receive a silver medal if they can’t take place in a gold medal final and that’s really important from our perspective to reflect the minimum level of that athlete or team would have achieved.
“You cannot imagine what the athletes had gone through over the last 18 months to deal with training schedule with international travel and reaches this level of competition. We need to support and reflect the performance of the athletes.”
But the IOC’s contingency plan on replacing an infected athlete might not work in a sport like judo, which is set to stage all rounds of each division in a single day.
PLAYBOOK The third and final edition of the Tokyo 2020 Playbook for athletes and officials was released on June 15 with a stern warning that failure to comply with the COVID-19 countermeasures could result in disqualification.
Athletes must be tested daily, wear masks outside competition, maintain physical distance and limit social interaction, use only dedicated Olympics transport and only go to destinations included in their Activity Plan.
"The COVID-19 countermeasures described in the Playbook are designed to create a safe Games environment for all Games participants. Equally, they offer an additional layer of protection for our hosts, the residents of Japan. You must fully adhere to the Playbook in the 14 days before you travel, throughout your journey and throughout your time in Japan – keeping your interaction with non-Games participants to a minimum," the Playbook states.
KEY PRINCIPLES These are part of the key principles of the Sport-Specific Regulations (SSR) developed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and each of the 32 International Federation (IF) on the Olympic programme in a bid to “keep the integrity of competition”, according to IOC sports director Kit McConnell.
INTEGRITY OF COMPETITION McConnell acknowledged that each sport will have “slightly different rules” to deal with COVID-19 cases, but the SSR is to ensure a “degree of consistency”.
“We have come up with key principles which we communicated last week at the IOC Executive Board meeting,” said McConnell.
“All these reflect the fact that we are looking to keep the integrity of competition and keep the competition schedule and formats as planned.”
REPLACEMENTS The key principles also state that where there is enough time to replace DNS athletes/teams, competition positions should be filled and matches should take place, and this could lead to multiple medals if the replacements are made in gold medal matches.
“If an athlete has to withdraw, then their place would be made available by the next highest ranked and eligible athlete,” said McConnell.
MINIMUM RESULT “Depending on the competition format and scheduled, a replacement team would move into the empty space, for example the quarter-final or semi-final. The team that could not take part in the semi-finals would be replaced, if possible, by the team that they played in the quarter-finals. In the final point of that jigsaw, athletes and teams should not lose the minimum result that they would have obtained.
“If the athlete was not able to compete in the final and would have receive a diploma for their participation, they will receive that. If an athlete would have taken part in a medal event but cannot, they will receive the minimum level of medal they would have received for example in a final. They will receive a silver medal if they can’t take place in a gold medal final and that’s really important from our perspective to reflect the minimum level of that athlete or team would have achieved.
“You cannot imagine what the athletes had gone through over the last 18 months to deal with training schedule with international travel and reaches this level of competition. We need to support and reflect the performance of the athletes.”
But the IOC’s contingency plan on replacing an infected athlete might not work in a sport like judo, which is set to stage all rounds of each division in a single day.
PLAYBOOK The third and final edition of the Tokyo 2020 Playbook for athletes and officials was released on June 15 with a stern warning that failure to comply with the COVID-19 countermeasures could result in disqualification.
Athletes must be tested daily, wear masks outside competition, maintain physical distance and limit social interaction, use only dedicated Olympics transport and only go to destinations included in their Activity Plan.
"The COVID-19 countermeasures described in the Playbook are designed to create a safe Games environment for all Games participants. Equally, they offer an additional layer of protection for our hosts, the residents of Japan. You must fully adhere to the Playbook in the 14 days before you travel, throughout your journey and throughout your time in Japan – keeping your interaction with non-Games participants to a minimum," the Playbook states.
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