The postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games has created a ripple effect around the swimming community with several meets scheduled for the summer being called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Swimming Canada has followed suit.
On Friday, the organization announced the cancellation of the remaining national events slated for the summer of 2020. This includes the Canadian Masters Swimming Championships (May 22-24, Etobicoke, Ont.), Canadian Junior Championships (July 22-27, Montreal), and Canadian Swimming Championships (Aug. 6-9, Edmonton).
The Canadian Olympic Trials were initially postponed back on March 13, and Swimming Canada had been looking into scheduling a late June trials, similar to when the United States holds theirs, prior to the Olympics being officially deferred on Tuesday.
The Canadian Trials were originally scheduled to run March 30-April 5 in Toronto.
“We would like to thank the COC, CPC, IOC and IPC for their leadership in these difficult times,” said Swimming Canada CEO Ahmed El-Awadi. “We understand that postponing the Games was an incredibly difficult decision, but one that needed to be made for the safety of all, therefore we are following suit with our national events.”
The organization’s April 30 moratorium on all sanctioned events still stands, and its 2021 national event calendar is currently being assessed as the sports world waits for the IOC to announce the specific dates of the Tokyo Games.
“The world needs healing,” said El-Awadi. “It takes time. The sun will rise again for the most celebrated Games, and for our Canadian championships. The athletes will awe us with their amazing talents once more. The world just needs some time to heal. Once the storm is over, we will swim again.”
In a videoconference held on Wednesday for the Swimming Canada community, High Performance Director John Atkinson announced that all scheduled national camps will be postponed until “at least the fall,” and that the existing national team selection and nomination criteria will be withdrawn and reviewed, then reworked once the 2021 schedule is known.
UPDATE
After the announcement made by Swimming Canada, Swim Ontario has aligned its upcoming schedule by cancelling the 2020 Ontario Summer Swimming Champs, Ontario Summer Youth/Junior Champs and Ontario Summer Festival Champs.
In alignment with Swimming Canada‘s announcement today in regards to the National meet calendar, Swim Ontario has decided to cancel the 2020 Ontario Summer Swimming Champs, Ontario Summer Youth/Junior Champs and Ontario Summer Festival Champs.
— Swim Ontario (@SwimOntario) March 27, 2020
I wonder if summer swimming associations will follow suit?