THIS summer’s Olympic Games is among the many sporting events worldwide under threat as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, but Ireland’s boxers cannot afford to worry about any threat to Tokyo 2020 just yet.
That is the message from Dominic O’Rourke, president of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA), after the 13-strong Irish team cut short a training camp in Italy because of the outbreak.
The team – including Ulster boxers Brendan Irvine, Kurt Walker, Aidan Walsh, Michaela Walsh and Carly McNaul - returned home from Assisi on Wednesday evening as a precautionary measure, having been scheduled to stay until today.
Assisi is a town in the central Italian region of Umbria, which is not close to the effected region of Lombardy. However, with the closure of Milan airport and the threat of further spread, a decision was taken by team management to act swiftly.
“Like everybody else you’re a bit nervous of it, you don’t really know what’s happening and the best thing was for the boxers to come back,” said O’Rourke, who had been due to attend the European Boxing Council congress in Assisi this weekend until it’s cancellation as a result of coronavirus.
“When they came back they went to the medical people in Abbotstown, so it was just a precaution in case anything did break.”
When asked if any of the boxers had displayed any symptoms of the virus, he replied: “No, everything is good.”
Looking at the bigger picture, however, fears that the Olympics – scheduled to run from July 24-August 9 – are under threat, just like soccer’s Euro 2020, continue to grow.
Earlier this week Dick Pound, a senior member of the International Olympic Council, said outright cancellation of the Games, rather than postponement or relocation, would be likely if the disease proved too dangerous for the event to go ahead.
Pound estimated there could be a two-month window to decide the fate of Tokyo 2020, meaning a decision could be put off until late May.
“In and around that time, I’d say folks are going to have to ask: ‘Is this under sufficient control that we can be confident about going to Tokyo or not?’” said Pound.
For that reason, O’Rourke believes the Irish boxers can only focus on the immediate job at hand – the European Olympic qualifier in London from March 13-24.
“It’s definitely in the back of your head,” admitted the Kildare man.
“It is a worrying time for the Olympics, but all we can do is focus on what we have in front of us. We have a qualifier coming up in March, everything else is outside our control. We can’t control what’s going to happen with the Olympics.
“If you listen to the news, they say it’s going to escalate and that it’s only a matter of time until it hits Ireland. Everybody’s worried about it, but all we can do is stay focused on the job in hand.”
“We’re heading to London for a qualifier and that’s all that’s in our mind at the moment, rather than thinking about what might happen in July or August. Every team is the same I’m sure.
“This might cease or it might get worse, nobody actually knows.”
