{"id":423057,"date":"2020-03-18T10:27:15","date_gmt":"2020-03-18T17:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=423057"},"modified":"2020-03-18T21:21:18","modified_gmt":"2020-03-19T04:21:18","slug":"french-swimming-boss-pharmacist-on-the-frontline-of-coronavirus-war-denounces-ioc-tokyo-2020-inaction-as-indecent-shocking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/french-swimming-boss-pharmacist-on-the-frontline-of-coronavirus-war-denounces-ioc-tokyo-2020-inaction-as-indecent-shocking\/","title":{"rendered":"French Swimming Boss & Pharmacist On The Frontline of Coronavirus War Denounces IOC & Tokyo 2020 Inaction As “Indecent & Shocking”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gilles Sezionale<\/strong> is a man in the know on swimming and the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic<\/strong>. The head of the French Swimming Federation (FFN)<\/strong>, a pharmacist<\/strong> by profession and currently working on the front line of the global health emergency, has harnessed his knowledge and status in both worlds to tell the International Olympic Committee and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games<\/strong> organisers that he is stunned by a lack of action that he calls both “indecent” and “shocking”.<\/p>\n

From the heart of Paris 2024 country and city, Sezionale heaps scorn and pressure on the Olympic realm as he calls on leaders to catch up with monumental events unfolding across the world.<\/p>\n

He tells Le Parisien<\/em> in an exclusive interview with Eric Bruna<\/em> today<\/strong> <\/a>that sets flames at the feet of IOC bosses and Tokyo 2020 Olympic organisers that a message of “Games must go on” is out of step with the reality on the ground around the world. he advocates postponement until, 2021 and says he won’t be going on any site visits to Tokyo as offered by his National Olympic Committee because as things stand, the show cannot go on.<\/p>\n

Sezionale, who urges the heads of other swimming federations around the world to step up and demand action, contrasts firm decisions in football, highlighting the shifting of the Euro 2020 tournament to Euro 2021, to a lack of action in the Olympic movement and concludes that where “football\u00a0does not put the health of its professionals at stake, the IOC does not pay the same respect to its athletes”.<\/p>\n

On the day the IOC Board held a teleconference with National Olympic Committees to hear them tell the tales of athletes unable to train, of trials and championships wiped out and preparation plans wiped out, Sezionale, in a sensational interview that will resonate far and wide in the realm of Olympic sports, is asked by Bruna how he explains the lack of decisive action from the IOC and Tokyo 2020 of the kind that football and other professional sports have taken. He refers to the IOC statement of yesterday<\/a> and says:<\/p>\n

“I can’t explain it. What they write is indecent. It’s shocking. They are wedded to the numbers of zeros (the money). \u00a0I saw people tweet: ‘Coca-Cola does not want to drink from this cup’. That’s it. We are so steeped in a world of money that we forget hat matters most.<\/p>\n

“There is no more money than the amounts football has – and yet football has been smart in playing the precautionary principle and shifting the Euro [2020 tournament] to 2021. Perhaps they are more sensible than our IOC wise men. If they take action, we can still do the same. I find it hard to understand that no one reacts. Football does not put the health of its professionals at stake. The IOC does not pay the same respect to its athletes. However, this is what they [IOC] live on. Without a show, no big money.”<\/p>\n

Sezionale took to Twitter to send a message to Olympic bosses that their priorities are out of step with a world struggling on health, life and financial grounds:<\/p>\n

“While all sports cease their activities and postponements of major events multiply, the IOC evokes the possible continuation of the Olympic Games!\u00a0I am devastated by so many inconsistencies when we should only devote ourselves today to the epidemic to save lives!”<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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Alors que tous les sports cessent leurs activit\u00e9s et que les reports des grands \u00e9v\u00e9nements se multiplient, le CIO \u00e9voque le maintien possible des JO!
Je suis atterr\u00e9 par tant d\u2019incons\u00e9quence alors qu\u2019on ne devrait se consacrer aujourd\u2019hui qu\u2019\u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9pid\u00e9mie pour sauver des vies! https:\/\/t.co\/KpOkJ3wldn<\/a><\/p>\n
— Gilles Sezionale (@gsezionale) March 17, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n