AUBURN, Ala. – For Santiago Grassi, Julie Meynen and the other Olympic hopefuls from Auburn, they will have to wait to compete in the Tokyo Olympics. The IOC and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Tuesday that the 2020 games will be postponed to 2021. Abe and IOC President Thomas Bach released a joint statement announcing the postponement.
In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community.
Grassi and Meynen, two senior swimmers, were the only current Auburn student-athletes who had already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. Grassi will be representing Argentina in the men's 100 butterfly, and Meynen qualified for Luxembourg in the women's 100 freestyle. Both swam for their home countries at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Several other Auburn swimmers and track and field athletes, past and present, were expected to try and earn their spot this summer at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha (swimming) and Eugene, Oregon (track and field), but those too have been postponed for both sports.
There are a number of former international Auburn Olympic hopefuls as well who were looking to representing their respective countries at the Tokyo Olympics this summer and had their dreams dashed with Tuesday's news. They will continue to pursue that dream for when the event is rescheduled.
Former Auburn swimmer and Guatemala native Luis Martinez had already earned his spot, qualifying for Tokyo in the men's 100 butterfly. It will be his second Olympic appearance.
At the 2016 Olympics, Auburn had a total of 17 athletes – 11 swimmers, five track athletes and a double trap shooter – who competed. Six coaches associated with Auburn also worked at the Games that year.