Hirshland said her "role is not to make demands of those making decisions, but to bring forward solutions"GETTY IMAGES
USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland is facing criticism "for not calling on the IOC to postpone" the Tokyo Games, but she "wants people to know that she's doing her best to make sure that postponing is the correct call and, maybe more important, what the next step should be," according to Eddie Pells of the AP. Hirshland said, "My role is not to make demands of those making decisions, but to bring forward solutions." USA Swimming and USA Track & Field over the weekend called for a one-year delay of the Games, while Canada and Australia have said they will not participate in the Games unless they are postponed until '21. The IOC has asked all member countries "for details about conditions in their respective locales" in regards to athlete training. Hirshland said, "We're hearing from the athletes loud and clear, and I can guarantee you, the IOC is going to hear from us, loud and clear." Hirshland "pushed back on the idea" that the weekend statements from USA Swimming and USATF -- each of which "called on her to employ the USOPC's leadership role to ask for a postponement -- amounted to a blindside or a crack in unity." She said that she had talked with USA Swimming CEO Tim Hinchey "long before he sent the letter" (AP, 3/23).
TIME TO STEP UP: In Colorado Springs, Woody Paige wrote the USOPC "should be the guiding force rather than a meek follower -- the IOC has revealed in the past its primary interest is financially motivated -- and call immediately for an Olympic suspension." Other nations "ultimately will agree” (Colorado Springs GAZETTE, 3/22).
