South American IOC Members and the "Day After"

(ATR) The same doubts that forced the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games continue to this minute.

The voices of athletes from other parts of the world, especially from Europe, who complained that they would go to the Olympic Games under unequal conditions, were somehow taken into account.

Today, as the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic moves to America, this harm is in the hands of the athletes of the continent, more markedly those in South/Central America and the Caribbean. But there’s no more time for interruptions of the Games.

Six members of the International Olympic Committee from the region offered their views in a recent virtual forum successfully organized by the South American Sports Organization (ODESUR) chaired by Paraguayan Camilo Pérez López-Moreira.

They, like the rest of the participants, along with the entire sports world, are aware that without vaccines against COVID-19, the Games will be complicated.

Despite the uncertainty experienced by humanity and sports, sports leaders try to stay calm and above all, hope, while encouraging their athletes to continue the sacrifice of training as they can while still dreaming of the Olympic reward.

Panam Sports president Neven Ilic reiterated the concern he has raised in all of his interviews this bumpy season: the "very delicate" condition faced by athletes both physically and mentally, and the "anxiety" about trying to return to what they think is "normal".

Ilic said he did not see the possibility of traveling, training, and competing safely "very soon".

The Chilean director hopes that the program of Olympic solidarity - in the broadest spectrum - will help the development of athletes, while Panam Sports is obliged to face the future of their event projects with more flexibility and fewer demands.

Nicole Hoevertz (Aruba), felt that "the world is never going to be the way it was before."

"The crisis affects us unequally," she said.

Hoevertz recalled that South America has been "badly affected" by the pandemic.

As of this Friday, August 7, five Latin American nations were among the top 10 on a global list of contagions: 2- Brazil with 2,927,807 (98,844 deaths), 6- Mexico 462,690 (50,517), 7- Peru 455,409 (50,513), 8- Chile 366,671 (9,889) and 9- Colombia 357,710 (11,939).

Hoevertz said that with or without vaccines, the new health standards will govern much longer. She highlighted the consolidated "joint work" in the midst of the crisis in the world of sport.

Argentina’s Gerardo Werthein did not overlook the economic impact of the postponement of the Olympic Games which he called a "complicated decision".

Werthein warned that in the face of the likely departure of commercial sponsors because of the economic crisis, the Olympic Committees will be forced to seek more support from the governments that are expected to understand, while sponsors regain confidence in the so-called "new normal."

Hoevertz and Werthein are members of the IOC Executive Board.

Former Brazilian volleyball player Bernard Rajzman said that "there is no certainty of anything," a consideration that included the emergence of a vaccine.

He highlighted the need to continue to stimulate the athletes and alluded to the health crisis in his country which he believed is more complicated due to the geographical dimension and social problems of Brazil.

"May Tokyo be the return of the fellowship of the sports community."

Fellow Brazilian Andrew Parsons, chairman of the International Paralympic Committee, believed that the context of the current crisis should lead to the emergence of a Universal Declaration of Human Obligations.

Parsons thus referred to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed as an international commitment after the second World War.

If this declaration were to be developed, the IPC would advocate the non-discrimination approach, a society for all, the incentive to inclusion and innovation, the awareness of sports as a tool for change in the "new normal" and the equal funding by governments towards all sports.

In this regard, Parsons included sports for the disabled, community sports, and social sports which should also have greeted media attention.

The regional forum was broadcast by videoconference through the ODESURTV channel upon its relaunch.

Paraguayan Camilo Pérez remarked that Solidarity, Creativity and Flexibility will be important elements in the work of the sports leadership on the "Day After" of the pandemic.

"Extraordinary circumstances will appear at various times" but warned that more than ever the Agenda 2020 promoted by the president of the IOC, Thomas Bach "will be a great protagonist".

"Every problem always gives an opportunity," said Pérez.

The president of the Paraguayan Olympic Committee trusts that governments will raise awareness, in the midst of the crisis, of the impact of sport on society as a source of jobs and especially as a generator of physical and mental health in the post-pandemic world.

Camilo Pérez's reflection reminded us that a swimming pool is capable of saving a hospital.

Written by Miguel Hernandez

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