IOC asks international federations to finalise Olympic qualifying events dates

The International Olympic Committee has asked all international federations to finalise the dates of the Tokyo Games qualifiers and help draft contingency plans in advance for all eventualities, including potential cancellations, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last month, the IOC set June 29, 2021 as the new deadline for the qualification period of the Tokyo Olympics, which has been rescheduled to next year in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

"As some event dates and locations remain to be determined due to uncertainty over IF (international federations) calendars, we thank you in advance to keep us informed once events, dates and locations start to be confirmed so that these can be included in the qualification systems as soon as possible," the IOC said in a communication dated May 15.

"With the revised qualification systems in place, the IOC Sport Operations Managers will continue to collaborate closely with you to work on potential contingency plans should the nominated Olympic qualification events not be able to take place."
"The Sports Department is working closely with Tokyo 2020 to identify potential areas for optimisation without impacting the athlete experience or compromising the field of play and conduct of competition."