Israeli athletes eager to resume training

Committee representing Olympic, Paralympic and other federations meets with Health Ministry

By JERUSALEM POST SPORTS STAFF
ISRAEL JUDOKA Sagi Muki (top) – one of the blue-and-white’s top medal contender at the Olympics – has been training by himself over the past month, but can’t wait to return to the mat in some capacity as soon as possible. (photo credit: REUTERS)
ISRAEL JUDOKA Sagi Muki (top) – one of the blue-and-white’s top medal contender at the Olympics – has been training by himself over the past month, but can’t wait to return to the mat in some capacity as soon as possible.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Israeli representatives of the Olympic, Paralympic and Non-Olympic Sports sports federations organized a Special Action Team this week that conducted a Zoom meeting with Health Ministry officials Benny Dreyfuss and Dr. Efrat Aflalo regarding the return of sport to regular activities in accordance with the coronavirus restrictions and guidelines.
The team, representing all sports associations in Israel, explained the practical needs of athletes to train properly and gave an initial review of the return of sports in leading countries around the world, presenting an outline for the management of sterile training facilities written by the scientific and medical directors of the Olympic Committee of Israel.
In addition, the team presented a proposal outlining that a return in three stages: first, immediate return to training by the most accomplished athletes – elite athletes at the international level – after which selected adult activities of the various branches of sports will resume, followed by the return of professional sports across all the associations.
The conversation emphasized the importance of creating a special standard for athletes and their trainers as essential workers, and the need for the standard (corresponding to the “purple tag”) training centers that adhere to the special rules according to the medical-scientific recommendations and the Ministry of Health’s rules.
The Special Action Team includes Gili Lustig and Yael Arad as representatives of the Olympic Committee of Israel, Dr. Ron Bolotin representing the Paralympic Committee, Arik Kaplan from the Ayelet non-Olympic sports federation and three additional association heads – Dr. Yoni Yarom from the tennis federation, Kineret Tzedef from gymnastics and Revital Cohen Gluska of water polo.
In related news, International Olympic Committee removed a comment from its website on Tuesday that referred to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when discussing the financial impact of postponing the Games, following objections from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee.
The IOC and the Japanese government agreed last month to postpone the 2020 Olympics because of the global coronavirus outbreak.
The costs of rearranging the Games and who will pay them have yet to be clarified by either the IOC or the Japanese government.
However, on Monday the IOC published a Q&A on its website about the postponement and answered the question “What will be the financial impact of postponing the Games?”
Part of the answer referred to Abe and has become the bone of contention between the Olympics organizing partners.
“Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo agreed that Japan will continue to cover the costs it would have done under the terms of the existing agreement for 2020, and the IOC will continue to be responsible for its share of the costs,” read the IOC’s answer. “For the IOC, it is already clear that this amounts to several hundred millions of dollars of additional costs.”
Later on Tuesday, the IOC updated the Q&A section of its website and removed any mention of Abe.
“The IOC and the Japanese side, including the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, will continue to assess and discuss jointly the respective impacts caused by the postponement,” read the updated statement.
Tokyo 2020 said that the breakdown of who will pay the additional costs was not discussed between Abe and IOC President Thomas Bach when the two made the decision to postpone the Games.
Earlier, Kyodo news agency reported that Abe had agreed that Japan would shoulder the cost, which Kyodo said amounted to around $3 billion.
Japan’s top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said on Tuesday Abe had not agreed to any additional costs.
Reuters contributed to this report.