by Stuart Weir
2021 European indoor championships, photo by European Athletics
Stuart Weir did this piece on the 2021 EA indoor championships, and what can be learned from the experience of running the events.
What can we learn from the experience of running the European indoor championships?
In 2020 the World Indoor Athletics Championships were postponed. The Olympics were postponed. The Paralympics were postponed. Most of the major marathons were postponed or changed out of all recognition.
The European Indoor Athletics Championships took place this month in Poland and it was so brilliant to have a championship able to be held. It all seemed to go very well but the aftermath has been a little disturbing.
2021 European indoor championships, photo by European Athletics
Jessie Knight described to me what the experience was like: “We had to wear masks all the time. Usually I went for meals with my roommate and ate with her. We were told to try to create bubbles so that we always ate with the same people. You just tried to do the best you could. My room-mate and I – unless one of us was racing – we would eat together and be a bubble.
“We were tested twice – on arrival and on Sunday at the end. We were taken to the track the day we arrived to be tested and we had to sit in a car park until we got our test results. That seemed relatively safe. Once you’re there, you are so focused on the event and doing the best you can. I felt it was down to me to keep myself as safe as possible, making sure that you wash your hands and use hand sanitizer. You have to focus on your competition and do the best you can. You just hope that everyone else has been tested and put your trust in that”.
While Jessie said that testing on arrival had been smooth, someone else told me that at busy times it was taking 3 hours to get test results with up to 200 team members waiting in the underground car park. It was also reported that the original plan of separate team buses for each country did not work smoothly and when buses did not turn up, athletes from different countries were sharing buses. Where there were no spectators, there seemed to be a significant number of athletes and team members watching, all in the same part of the arena.
2021 European indoor championships, photo by European Athletics
We’ve also heard a report of 30 athletes partying in one room on closing night. It was also reported that of up to 15 Italian 10 British and 8 Dutch athletes plus some in the French and Danish teams testing positive. The Polish men’s 4 by 400 team and Polish sprinter Ewa Swoboda also withdrew after positive tests.
Then there was the unfortunate experience of Eline Berings (Belgium) in the 60 m hurdles. She tested negative twice the week before the event. She tested negative twice the week of the event. She tested positive at the event and was not allowed to run. The following day she had three tests all of them negative. That is eight tests in a two week period – seven negative and one positive but her indoor season ruined. She tweeted: “I hope this never happens to anyone again and that there can be a solution for such situations in future. Also if anyone has an idea what might cause a false positive…I’d be happy to hear. Bad luck is not really an answer that suits professional sport”. One cannot but have the utmost sympathy for her.
2021 European indoor championships, photo by European Athletics
Then the Irish team issued a statement: “A member of the Irish athletics team returning from the European Indoor Championships has provided a positive PCR test on the morning of 11 March. As a result, all team members have been personally contacted and close contacts of the positive case in the travelling party are now self isolating for a period of 10 days from Monday 8 March, in line with government guidance”.
Men’s 4x400m, 2021 European indoor championships, photo by European Athletics
It was then announced that “a member of the travelling party” of the Great Britain team had tested positive and that the entire travelling party was in self isolation. At the pre-event press conference, Holly Bradshaw joked that if she caught COVID he could only be from her husband or her coach as she was living in isolation doing all her shopping online and seeing no one. Then on 15 March, Holly tweeted: “Road to Tokyo. Well – it was meant to begin today but unfortunately I caught covid last week. I’m isolating for week 1 of training but thankfully I have minimal symptoms & still feel positive, optimistic & energised to start the final stretch of preparations towards my 3rd OG”. It was later reported that there had been a further nine positive tests among the GB party.
Women’s 4x400m, 2021 European indoor championships, photo by European Athletics
An European Athletics release stated: “sanitary rules that stipulated a mandatory use of a mask at all times, social distancing and the washing and disinfection of hands were duly communicated to every member federation, including the need for immediate isolation and quarantine in the case of suspicious symptoms or a positive result in testing”.
Despite stringent safety methods at the event in Poland, the number of positive cases that have come to light has grown alarmingly.
Holly Bradshaw, 2021 European indoor championships, photo by European Athletics
European Athletics added that the virus outbreak was traced back to two hotels in particular and continued: “Unfortunately the investigation also uncovered that the aforementioned strict sanitary protocol that should also have been followed in team hotels was not always fully respected”.
The experience of ToruÅ„ highlights the very real possibility of athletes in Tokyo testing positive and not being allowed to comptete in the Games. As Matt Lawton put it in the London Times “There will be an extensive testing programme inside the Olympic village, with all participants at risk of suddenly being prevented from contesting their event”. Even more uncertainty for athletes.
Women’s 400m, heats, 2021 European indoor championships, photo by European Athletics
PS Apologies if I have got any details wrong but I was not in Toruń and am writing from what people who were involved have told me.
