Corona Chronicles: Olympic Flame on Display, Wimbledon Cancelled

(ATR) The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Flame will be on display at the J-Village National Training Centre in Fukushima during the month of April.

Tokyo 2020 organizers handed over the lantern containing the Olympic Flame to Fukushima prefecture in a ceremony on Wednesday.

It will be on display from April 2 to April 30 with limited public viewing available.

The Flame, which was originally meant to symbolize Japan’s recovery from the earthquake and tsunami of 2011, is growing in stature as a worldwide symbol for a planet dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

"The Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present," International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Flame was lit in Greece and arrived in Japan on March 20 at the Japan Air Self-Defence Force Air Base in Matsushima, Miyagi prefecture. The Japanese part of the Torch Relay, originally set to begin on March 26 from the J-Village, has been pushed back to next year along with the Games.

Tokyo 2020 says how and where the lantern containing the Olympic flame will be kept after April 30 has not yet been decided.

No Wimbledon for 2020

There will be no Wimbledon tennis tournament for the first time since World War II.

The All England Lawn Tennis Club and Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the governing body of the sport in the UK, announced on Wednesday the cancellation of The Championships, Wimbledon, and the grass court season in the United Kingdom.

There will be no tennis events until at least July 13, as the International Tennis Federation has joined with the men’s and women’s professional tennis organizations to extend the suspensions of their respective tours.

"We recognize the significant impact these decisions will have across the sport and do not take them lightly, however, we must continue to be guided by experts and evidence," ITF President David Haggerty said in a statement.

Last month the French Open, the second of the year's tennis majors, was postponed from May to September.

Simone Biles on Tokyo Preparations

The athlete who was expected to be at the forefront of the Tokyo Olympics says the one year delay in holding the Games could hamper her preparations.

Simone Biles was one of the stars of Rio 2016, where she won four golds and a bronze in gymnastics at age 19. She has only become more dominant since then. Taking home five world titles at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart in October, she also set the record with a career tally of 25 world championship medals, more than any man or woman.

"Physically, I have no doubt that my coaches will get me back in shape but mentally, going another year, I think that’s what’s going to take the toll on me and all of us, and most of the athletes," Biles said during an interview on the NBC Today program on Wednesday.

"We have to stay in shape mentally just as much as physically and that will play a big factor moving forward… listening to your body and your mind."

Biles says she is currently working out from home, concentrating on what she calls "body work" including her abs, arms and legs.

She has contributed a signed leotard to raise money for the charity Athletes for Relief, which targets help for small businesses and school children affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Mediterranean Games Postponed to 2022

The 2021 Mediterranean Games in Oran, Algeria have been pushed back by a year.

The event was originally set to run from June 25 to July 5 of next year and follows the decision to move the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to the summer of 2021.

The exact dates in 2022 will be announced shortly, according to a statement released by the International Committee of the Mediterranean Games (ICMG).

The Mediterranean Games, first staged in 1951, bring together athletes from 26 countries around the Mediterranean Sea. The last edition of the Games, held in Tarragona, Spain in 2018, was also delayed by a year.

WBSC Postpones Tournaments

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) announces the postponement of three women’s tournaments.

The WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup®, WBSC U-18 Women's Softball World Cup® and WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup were originally scheduled to take place across August and early September.

The confederation says it will try to find new dates for the events later in the year, dependent on the latest developments concerning the coronavirus.

The only two remaining events on the WBSC 2020 calendar are the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup and the Baseball 5 World Cup -- a qualifier for the Youth Olympic Games 2022 -- which are set to take place in Mexico at the end of September/beginning of October and December, respectively.

Last month, the WBSC announced the postponement of the Americas and Final Olympic Baseball Qualification tournaments, also to a date still to be determined.

Written by Gerard Farek

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