欧州陸上選手権、新型コロナで中止に　選手にさらなる打撃

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】欧州陸上選手権の主催者は23日、新型コロナウイルスのパンデミック（世界的な大流行）を受け、8月25日から30日に仏パリで予定されていた大会を中止すると発表した。（写真は資料写真）
　大会組織委員会とフランス陸上連盟（ＦＦＡ）は、「人々の健康やウイルス拡大の対策を一番に考慮し、責任ある立場を取ることを望んだ」と発表。組織委のジャン・ガルシア委員長は、「全力を尽くした」「状況が急速に改善されるかもしれないとわれわれ全員が願っていたが、残念ながらかなわなかった」とコメントした。
　「各種目の参加選手数を減らしたり、観客の数を半分にしたりするといったあらゆる可能性に目を向けた」
　３月には東京五輪の１年延期が決まった中で、同日にはダイヤモンドリーグの米ユージーン大会とパリ大会の開催先延ばしも発表され、陸上選手たちはシーズンを失う可能性に直面している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/04/24-13:33）

Athletics was left with the prospect of a lost season on Thursday after this summer's European Championships, set to be held in Paris, were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement, the event's organising committee and French Athletics Federation (FFA) said they wished to adopt a responsible position by putting human health and the fight against the spread of the virus before any other consideration.
The championships were scheduled for August 25-30. The cancellation follows the postponement in March of the Tokyo Olympics to 2021 and the announcement earlier on Thursday of the postponement of Diamond League events in Eugene, Oregon, and Paris.
We really tried, said Jean Gracia, president of the Paris European Championships organising committee. We all hoped that the situation might improve rapidly, but unfortunately that wasn't the case,
We looked at all the possibilities, including reducing the number of athletes in each contest and halving the number of spectators.
Continental governing body European Athletics said that the decision followed a meeting between the organising committee and the FFA and an earlier meeting between the relevant French authorities -- including the country's interior and sport ministries.
Whilst we regret announcing the cancellation of our European Athletics Championships, it is worth reiterating that in these unprecedented times the health and safety of all athletics' stakeholders including athletes, fans, officials, partners and everyone connected with the sport is paramount, said European Athletics' interim president Dobromir Karamarinov.
European Athletics added that it would discuss the other changes to the global athletics calendar that have been forced upon the sport in its next videoconference on May 7-8.
The Eugene Diamond League meeting was due to take place on June 7 with Paris six days' later. Their postponement means that eight events have been pushed back with no revised dates yet announced.
As with previous suspensions, this decision was reached in close consultation with all relevant parties and based on concerns over athlete safety as well as widespread travel restrictions which make it impossible to stage the competitions as planned, the organisers said in a statement.
The next scheduled Diamond League meeting is London on July 4, although the Bislett Games in Oslo -- one of the longest-standing meetings on the international calendar -- will go ahead on June 11, albeit in a different format from the Diamond League meeting originally planned on that date.
The event will be an alternative athletics competition under Norwegian coronavirus regulations, organisers said.
Oslo will feature a pole vault head-to-head between Armand Duplantis and 2012 Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie, whose world record the young Swede broke in February.