British athlete Guy Learmonth calls for Tokyo Olympics to be postponed

Britain’s Guy Learmonth has called on the International Olympic Committee to postpone the Olympics due to the coronavirus pandemic in order to give athletes “some clarity, transparency and flexibility”.

Learmonth, who captained the GB team at the European Indoor Championships last year and hopes to compete in the 800 metres in Tokyo, favours delaying the Games until at least October or possibly even until 2021 or 2022.

The 27-year-old told the Guardian: “We have no idea how bad this is going to get, and what we have seen so far might be the tip of the iceberg.

“Purely from an athlete’s point of view here, we need some clarity, transparency and flexibility. Because the press conference that I saw from the Japanese prime minister didn’t exactly fill me full of confidence that these Games are going to go ahead whatsoever.

“We have to be realistic. If the British government are saying the peak is going to hit us around May or June there might not even be any Olympic trials. The Australians have already had theirs cancelled and I fear that this is going to be happening a lot throughout Europe as the weeks and months go by.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Saturday the country is hopeful of hosting the Olympics this summer “without a hitch”.