TOKYO 2020
NTT Pro Cycling’s time trial specialist, Victor Campenaerts, has welcomed the decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee to postpone the Olympic Games.
Campenaerts, 28, was working towards earning a spot on Team Belgium, with the final selection due to take place over the coming months.
Foto: Gerhard Plomitzer
On Tuesday, a joint statement from the IOC and the organisers, saw the Games now postponed “beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021″ due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I don’t think that it’s a surprise for anybody that they’ve postponed the Tokyo Olympic Games. I think it’s a good decision, the only one that the organisers could really take. There were rumours about the Olympics taking place in November or December but I think that would be really to strange to have a summer Olympics in the winter,” said Campenaerts.
“I think this is the best decision if you consider the bigger picture, which for now is greater than just the sporting world, and it’s good that they make that call right now. It’s important for those athletes who put so much into their planning and preparation for the showpiece.
“For me personally, as a cyclist, there’s plenty of opportunity to shine so as it is already been a very strange season, and it will be a really strange season going forward, it’s no big deal.
“But for my girlfriend (swimmer Fanny Lecluyse) this is a really strange time. She has already been selected so will she now be selected for next year’s Olympics? Will she have to qualify again?
“She was planning to retire after these Olympic Games and as we know swimming is not necessarily one that financially as lucrative as some others, so for her it’s not such good news.”
Campenaerts also recently featured in the latest episode of NTT Pro Cycling’s ‘UnClipped’ podcast.
In it, he talks about his personal background and how he came into the sport, what an Olympic medal would mean to him and also how he manages to deal with disappointment that as a professional could manifest in some form of “depression”.
You can follow the link for full details on how to listen to that, here: https://bit.ly/3dtIMG4
About NTT Pro Cycling
Founded in 2007, NTT Pro Cycling (formerly Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka) became the first-ever African cycling team to gain a WorldTour license, in 2016. With the support of our headline sponsor and technology innovation partner, NTT, we are the most purpose-driven, performance-led, and technology-enabled team in pro cycling today.
