Firstpost Explains: Two golds? Two silvers? How COVID-19 could make hockey event at Tokyo 2020 an unusual affair-Sports News , Firstpost

File image of Indian hockey team players celebrating a goal

There could be two gold medallists or two silver medallists in hockey at the Tokyo Olympics, as per to the Sports Specific Regulations agreed upon by hockey’s international governing body, FIH, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Thierry Weil, CEO of FIH, confirmed this in a virtual press conference with Indian journalists on Friday, one week before the deferred Tokyo Olympics are to start under a cloud of coronavirus .

FIH’s Sports Specific Regulations (SSR) for coronavirus stated that if a team has to withdraw from the Olympics in the knockout stages due to too many COVID-19 cases in the team, the team which they beat in the previous knockout round will progress instead of them, provided they are still around in Tokyo (Tokyo 2020 organisers have laid a rule stating that athletes must leave the Games Village in two days after their participation in the Games is over). This move essentially provides a second chance to an eliminated team should their vanquishers have to pull out due to an outbreak among their squad.

Bigger squads in Tokyo

Ordinarily, a team is allowed to name 16-member squads for the Olympics, but given the coronavirus situation, the IOC agreed to allow two more players to be added to the squad as reserves. (Each national team has also been given the opportunity to fly three more players as alternates to Tokyo, but they will be based outside the Athletes Village in a bubble of their own).

Considering the players at each team’s disposal with the original 16-member squad plus the reserves and alternates, the FIH is hopeful that a situation will not arise at Tokyo where a team has to withdraw completely due to an outbreak of cases.

It must be noted that the FIH or IOC has currently kept no cap on the minimum number of players a team will need to have available to play matches.

“The decision on withdrawing is at the team’s discretion. Even if a team has six players who have contracted COVID-19 , they could still play,” said FIH CEO Thierry Weil. “If a team has just 11 players available, they can still play. Even if a team is playing with 10-men, which is unlikely, we leave their withdrawal to the discretion of their team.”

He pointed out that FIH’s own regulations had a rule about minimum players required to compete, but IOC chose to remove that rule for Tokyo 2020.

What-ifs

With the Olympics being held precariously in the middle of a pandemic, though, every what-if assumes gravitas, no matter how hypothetical or far-fetched. Not just positive COVID-19 cases, being a close contact of someone who has contracted the virus could also put a player in isolation, thereby forcing them to skip a match and leave the team short-handed.

This is why as per hockey’s SSR, should a team make it to the final and have to withdraw due to COVID-19 cases in the squad, the team they beat in the semi-finals will get an opportunity to compete in the final. The losing finalist and the team that had to withdraw due to COVID-19 cases will both be awarded silver medals.

In a situation where both teams which make it to the final have to withdraw due to COVID-19 , both teams will be awarded gold medals.

Similarly, if both losing semi-finalists have to pull out before the bronze medal playoff, both teams will be given bronze medals.

There is also a scenario where there will be a gold medallist and a bronze medallist, but no team will be given silver. This will happen if two teams withdraw before facing each other in the semi-final. In this scenario, the winner of the other semi-final will be the gold medallist, while the losing team will be the bronze medallist.

‘Extremely complicated’

“All these elements are extremely complicated,” said FIH’s Weil. “I honestly believe these situations will not take place during the Games. It’s unlikely. We can talk about whether this is fair or not in the sporting point of view. But given the COVID-19 situation, I honestly believe this is the best decision which has been taken.”

He explained that while all the question marks about hockey’s SSR were being raised over the semis and the finals, they had made the rules also keeping in mind earlier stages.

He went on to add that the decision had also been made in consultation with the athletes’ committee. “As an athlete you don’t want to be awarded medals because others could not continue competing. The decision was made because if you decide to conduct the Games, you want competition. I believe any team would prefer to play against an opponent and win a gold medal rather than get it because the other team could not play. It’s not ideal, but given the situation it’s a solution which is, in my view, the only which could have been taken.”

The rationale behind giving the losing semi-finalist a second chance by promoting them to the final has raised eyebrows.

One of the theories floating around for this decision is so that the hockey program is not denied the summit clash, which is likely to get the most eyeballs and highest ratings on television in these Olympics, where fans are banned from attending in person.

Weil vehemently denied this theory.

“This is completely wrong. I can guarantee you that this decision was not made on the basis that to get the money from IOC we have to do this.”