Yesterday, we reported that the 2020 Summer Olympics were postponed, due to the coronavirus, and Reggie Jagers has a few details about the event..
In an exclusive interview with Olympian discus thrower, Reggie Jagers III, we confirmed that the olympic athletes had a say so in postponing the 2020 Summer Olympics.
“With the NBA, NFL, MLB– things were canceled day-by-day,” Jagers said. “We figured since we’re summer games, the virus would be under control by the time we were to compete. But you can’t predict that timeline.”
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In an unprecedented event, the IOC surveyed their top athletes and asked their opinion on the situation.
“The IOC (International Olympics Committee) surveyed about 4,000 athletes. Over 80% of us decided to postpone the Olympics,” he added.
The Cleveland, Ohio native trains at the San Fransisco Training Center, but once gyms were shut down by the government, the 25-year-old and other athletes’ training options were extremely limited.
“When the government shut down the gyms, we weren’t able to train. You can’t really train at the best of your abilities. You’re not training your best and you’re trying to train in survival mode.”
He continued:
“That’s why the IOC decided to postpone the games. They realized your training is not the best it could be. The integrity of the games isn’t held to the quality standards of an Olympic game because people were trying to survive a virus.”
As for the athletes that were hoping to retire this year, they’ll have to wait another year and train in the meantime, if they still choose to participate.
Jagers also gave some insight on when he thinks the games would continue. “There’s a good chance that the Olympic games could take place in 2021, maybe 2022. But I think it’ll be more than likely in 2021. We’ll know more in about 4 weeks.”
The Olympian also states that he’s continuing to train. The Olympic games are canceled, but there’s still a timeline of track & field meets that will continue after the quarantine. There will still be a track and field season, as of now.
The Summer Olympics has only been canceled once. That was during World War I.
