By Joe Apu
The insistence of the International Olympic Committee and Tokyo 2021 organisers requiring athletes at this summer’s Games to sign a waiver and assume all risk related to Covid-19 during the Olympics is raiding questions from athletes.
According to insidethegames.biz, the waivers have proved a contentious issue in recent weeks, as the countdown to the rescheduled Games continue amid ongoing state-of-emergency measures in Japan aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19.
The World Players Association (WPA) has called for the IOC to revoke the waivers as a condition of participation at the Olympic Games.
It argues the risk should be removed from athletes’ shoulders.
Similar forms have been signed by athletes at previous Games, but this year’s document has been updated to include references to COVID-19.
The waiver for the Tokyo Games states that athletes participate at their own risk, including ‘serious bodily injury or even death’ due to the transmission of COVID-19.
Athletes are set to receive both doses of the Pfizer vaccine before the Games start on July 23, in the hope it will protect them against both catching and transmitting the virus.
The IOC’s chief operating officer Lana Haddad told Yahoo Sports that ‘entry forms have been in place for previous Games, and have been updated to include Covid-19-related consideration.’
She also added this was ‘to provide transparency and ensure the informed consent from the Games participants,’ before insisting such forms were ‘within the framework of the law’.