As the novel coronavirus started spreading around the globe, we saw its effects on gymnastics already with Chinese gymnasts having to miss the Melbourne World Cup and Russian gymnasts pulling out of the American Cup (taking place this Saturday) and the Tokyo World Cup. Last few weeks saw the epidemic getting out of control in several additional countries besides China and there have been some new developments regarding gymnastics competitions.
The inaugural Kohei Uchimura Cup that was supposed to take place on 18th of March was cancelled due to the outbreak in Japan. Japan has over 400 cases of coronavirus infections and the country also closed schools in order to curb the spread of the virus.
わぁ、やはり開催中止か…😭残念すぎる。早くいろいろと収束してほしい
— しょう@ブロガー お出かけ・旅・キャンプ (@syoradio1) February 26, 2020
▽
KOHEI UCHIMURA CUP 2020年3月18日(水)開幕 開催中止 https://t.co/4f1EXQKAMQ
The traditional spring competition in Italy – Jesolo Trophy – has been cancelled. Jesolo Trophy is not a part of the Olympic qualification but the competition has traditionally had a strong roster with countries testing their teams before big Spring competitions. USA opted to pull out even before the competition was officially cancelled. Jesolo is in Veneto region of Italy, one of the regions that was hit the hardest by the outbreak even though the city itself has been relatively unaffected so far.
Italy currently has over 4600 cases of the novel coronavirus and many cases in other countries are linked to either Italians visiting those countries or people coming back from Italy. As a result, several countries instituted travel bans for arrivals from Italy, including Qatar. That means Italian gymnasts, including Vanessa Ferrari and Lara Mori who are trying to win a nominative Olympic spot through World Cups, will not be able to participate at the Doha World Cup. In addition, the competition will be held behind closed doors with no spectators allowed. Not that the World Cup normally draws a large crowd in Doha.
Since Iran is currently one of the most affected countries (with over 4700 cases), Iranian gymnasts will not be able to compete in Doha (Qatar’s travel ban includes Iran). Azerbaijan has so far allowed gymnasts from all countries, including China, to compete at their events, so they might still allow gymnasts from Italy, Iran, and other affected countries to compete at the Baku World Cup.
France is one of the countries that has been seriously affected by the outbreak, with over 600 diagnosed cases at the moment. That led to the authorities prohibiting all indoor events with more than 5000 participants. If the outbreak continues until April (and according to the predictions, it is likely to only get worse), this will have serious implications for the WAG European Championships in late April – early May. Currently, several events slated to be held at the AccorHotels Arena (the site of the Euros) have been cancelled.
At the moment, there is no official information regarding the competition. One of the possible options would be to hold it behind closed doors, just like the Doha World Cup. However, even in this case, some countries might opt to pull out. For some, it will be hard to get to the competition as airlines are cancelling flights to affected countries in droves. Others might prefer to skip Euros in order to avoid being put in quarantine when they come home – missing two weeks of training this close to the Olympics is far from ideal. This was exactly what the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation was afraid of when they decided to pull out of the American Cup. Russia is one of the countries that instituted travel restriction for people arriving from France. Germany (with almost 700 cases) has also been added to Russia’s travel ban list which means Russian gymnasts will likely pull out of the Stuttgart World Cup as well. Great Britain, the host of the Birmingham World Cup, is not currently on that list but the travel restriction notice includes the words “and other countries with unfavorable situation related to the novel coronavirus infection spread” which means the list can be updated quickly. United Kingdom currently has over 150 diagnosed cases.
Russia has also posted a list of gymnasts to compete at the upcoming Russian Championships. Angelina Melnikova, Aleksandra Shchekoldina, and Anastasiia Iliankova, all currently slated to compete at international events at the same time as the nationals, are on the participant list. This might potentially indicate they will withdraw, although there were also precedents of Russian gymnasts flying to compete at the nationals right from an international event in the past. Interestingly, Maria Paseka, Daria Spiridonova, and Angelina Simakova are not on the participant list. Paseka and Spiridonova are supposed to compete at the Doha World Cup during the same time, so this might be the reason. However, Simakova was only slated to go to the Tokyo World Cup (which Russia pulled out from) and not to any of the competitions taking place at the same time as the nationals. In less surprising news, Aliya Mustafina is absent from the roster following Valentina Rodionenko’s recent statement that Mustafina is currently not training.
Support Gymnovosti on Patreon from only $1 a month and help us bring to you even more awesome gymnastics coverage!
Buy cool gymnastics-themed t-shirts, hoodies, pillows, phone cases, and more at our store on Teepublic!
