“The decision of re-allocating the FINA Olympic Qualifiers planned in Japan is under review,” reads the brief FINA media release. “An announcement will be made next week.”
Several FINA-hosted competitions over the next two months meant to qualify athletes for the 2021 Olympic Games have been canceled. SwimSwam reached out to FINA for an explanation with no response as of the publication of this article, though there are reports that at least one of the events was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.
The BBC obtained a letter that FINA had sent to national federations, criticizing organizers of a diving World Cup competition for not having a sufficient plan in place to prevent COVID-19 transmission. “This plan will not properly ensure health and protection guarantees to participants,” continued the letter.
Among the canceled events was a qualifier for open water swimmers, the FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier, which was scheduled for May 29-30 in Fukuoka, Japan.
So far, all FINA has said is that there is a decision under review to re-allocate the events slotted for Japan, which an announcement coming soon. The Diving World Cup, Marathon Swim Qualifier and an artistic swimming qualifier are the three events that were supposed to take place in Japan.
CANCELED EVENTS
- FINA Diving World Cup 2021 (Tokyo) 18 – 23 Apr 2021
- FINA Artistic Swimming World Series 2021 – Leg 4 – (Paris) 23 – 25 Apr 2021
- FINA Olympic Games Artistic Swimming Qualification Tournament 2021 (Tokyo) 01 – 04 May 2021
- FINA/CNSG Marathon Swim World Series 2021 – Leg 2 (Seychelles) 09 May 2021
- FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier 2021 – (Fukuoka) 29 – 30 May 2021
https://www.nippon.com/en/news/reu20210406KBN2BS25Z/
https://www.nippon.com/en/news/
Cancelling events in Japan slotted 13 , 10 & even 7 weeks before Olympics ? Yikes.
Game of dominoes anyone!?