Tokyo World Cup is the latest in the All-Around World Cup series to get canceled. After the cancellations of the World Cups in Birmingham and Stuttgart leading to the cancellation of the whole series, the competition in Tokyo was still slated to happen on May 4th. It was supposed to serve as a test event ahead of the Olympics which makes its cancellation quite worrisome.
The FIG cites “the current travel restrictions and difficulties worldwide as well as the measures taken by the Japanese authorities to limit the rate of coronavirus infections in the country ahead of the Olympic Games” as main reasons for the cancellation in addition to the fact that it wouldn’t be a part of the Olympic qualification anymore. It will be replaced by a national competition as a test event. However, for Olympic Games during a pandemic, one would find it important to test not just the arena and the competition procedures but also COVID-19 safety measures. Local competitors do not pose the same level of COVID-19 threat as international gymnasts coming together from different countries. Japan did host an international competition last year, the Friendship and Solidarity Competition. However, that event had special procedures that might not be repeatable at a World Cup or the Olympics. The participants were isolated in their respective countries for two weeks before the event, only three countries participated in addition to Japan, they arrived by chartered planes, and did not interact with gymnasts from other countries until the day of the competition. A World Cup would see participants from many more countries, traveling by regular planes (and having more opportunities to get infected en route) and rotating together during training and competition. If Japan is unable to host a competition like that safely in May, only three months ahead of the Games, it raises questions whether it will be able to host the Games.
