The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOC) is preparing to re-open its training facilities, with new safety regulations because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But those new regulations won’t be easy , and will affect US Olympic training facility space. With space regulations, the access will be limited, and as the USOC looks to create a safe training facility for the top-tier athletes, others could be negatively affected, including athletes who live and train at the facilities, according to a New York Times report.
The report states that the plan could limit athletes who live and train at the facility to as few as 15, when it usually houses hundreds of athletes. The athletes who do stay will have to be tested for the coronavirus when they arrive, quarantine in their rooms for as long as 14 days or until they test negative for COVID-19, and commit to staying at the center except for the briefest trip to a pharmacy or grocery store, according to the report.
The guidelines will be strict because one athlete testing positive for the coronavirus could spread to the entire elite group at a US Olympic training facility extremely quickly.
“Our focus is going to be on the lead-up to Tokyo and Beijing, and that will result in a narrowing in the number of athletes and coaches,” Rick Adams, the chief of sport performance at the Olympic committee, told The Times.
The financial impact will be great no matter how many athletes end up living and training at the facilities. The committee let go of 100 employees last month to try to counter some of the costs. Each spot not occupied will cost the committee money, as well as not hosting camps and tours. It could be a deficit of nearly $4 million this year, according to The Times report. The overall impact over five years could reach $200 million.
No matter what happens, the lasting impact of the pandemic is going to create a tough situation for hundreds of athletes as they are chasing their dreams.