What’s the status of U.S. and world qualifying in Olympic disciplines?
Here is the status of U.S. or world qualifying in many of the Olympic disciplines.
ATHLETICS: The U.S. Olympic track and field trials are still scheduled for June 19-28 in Eugene, Ore. Other countries use a variety of methods, including trials, world rankings and appointment based on results.
BASEBALL: Four countries — Israel, Mexico, South Korea and Olympics host Japan — are in the six-team field. The final two spots are to be determined by tournaments that were postponed: An Americas qualifier in Arizona has been indefinitely postponed, and a last-chance qualifying tournament in Taiwan slated for April is now scheduled for June 17-21.
BASKETBALL: Men — Eight teams, including the United States, already have qualified. The remaining spots in the 12-nation field will be determined in four winner-take-all, six-team tournaments scheduled from June 23-28 in Serbia, Canada, Croatia and Lithuania; Women — The 12-team field was filled in February with four tournaments. Although defending world champion United States and the host Japanese were already guaranteed spots, both finished in position to qualify anyway; 3x3 — FIBA has postponed the qualifying tournament scheduled for March 18-22 in India. A second qualifying tournament scheduled for April in Hungary is in limbo. Four women’s teams and four men’s teams have already qualified for the eight-country fields.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Most Olympic spots are earned over a two-year points race on the international tour. All events have been postponed through the first weekend in May, including March tournaments in Mexico and Australia. Four of the final nine points-rich four- or five-star events have been canceled or postponed, and the final event is scheduled for Rome on June 9-14. The FIVB says it “is in contact with the [International Olympic Committee] about potentially revising the beach volleyball qualification system.”
BOXING: Two of the four regional Olympic qualification tournaments already have taken place, and the third for European fighters began Saturday in London. The Americas qualifier scheduled for March 26 in Buenos Aires has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, and organizers haven’t set a plan for the final steps in qualification, including the last-chance World Olympic Qualifying Tournament scheduled for May 13 in Paris.
A postponement or a cancellation of the Tokyo Olympics because of coronavirus would be a monumental task that Japan and the IOC hope to avoid.
CYCLING: The selection criteria is different for each discipline: BMX freestyle and racing, mountain biking, track cycling, and the road race and time trials. Each discipline has a series of automatic qualification standards, and a committee will choose athletes to fill out the U.S. team. The world championships May 30-31 in Houston is crucial for BMX, and at this point is still scheduled. The last Olympic qualification event in freestyle BMX, the World Series in Hiroshima April 3-5, has been postponed. Final rosters for each discipline are announced in June.
DIVING: Dozens of divers have already qualified based on their performances at last summer’s world championships or other major meets over the last eight months. The last big qualifier is the Diving World Cup, set for the new Olympic aquatics venue in Tokyo on April 21-26; FINA is still considering whether to proceed. U.S. divers also must get through the national trials in Indianapolis on June 13-21 to confirm their Olympic spots. No decision has been announced on the Canadian trials scheduled for March 30-April 5 in Toronto.
EQUESTRIAN: All of the equestrian qualifying events have been completed in every discipline. None of the events was affected by the virus.
FENCING: Qualification was to be based on rankings set to be released on April 4, with some additional slots to be determined in zonal events from April 15-26. But the International Fencing Federation suspended all international competitions for 30 days, delaying five major competitions that must be completed before zonal qualifying. The FIE is requesting an extension of the qualification period.
FIELD HOCKEY: Tournaments to fill the 12-team men’s and women’s fields were completed in 2019. Ten countries qualified for both: Australia, Argentina, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the Netherlands and Britain.
GOLF: Sixty golfers are determined by the world rankings, two per country with a maximum of four if they are among the top 15. The PGA Tour and European Tour, which offer the most ranking points, have canceled or postponed all events at least through April 12.
GYMNASTICS: The team fields for both men’s and women’s gymnastics were set at last year’s world championships. The remaining individual all-around and single apparatus spots are determined at World Cup events. The International Gymnastics Federation has canceled an all-around World Cup event in Germany and postponed an apparatus World Cup event in Qatar from March until early June.
HANDBALL: The International Handball Federation has postponed the final qualifying tournaments until June. The host nations were Spain, Hungary and Montenegro for the women and Norway, France and Germany for the men. Six of 12 spots remain open for each field.
JUDO: The International Judo Federation has canceled all Olympic qualifiers through April 30, including a Grand Slam and two Grand Prix. Another Grand Prix last weekend, in Morocco, was canceled earlier. Qualifying ends on May 25.
ROWING: World Rowing has canceled a European Olympic qualifying regatta that was scheduled for April 27-29 in Varese, Italy, and relocation is being considered. USRowing said Olympic trials in Sarasota, Fla., from March 16-21 and April 13-18 have been postponed and the organization will not hold a national team event for at least 30 days.
RUGBY SEVENS: The 12-team fields have three spots open — one in the men’s and two in the women’s — at the final qualifying event scheduled for June. The top four teams in the World Sevens series at the end of 2019 qualified automatically, along with the winners of each regional qualifying tournament. Australia, New Zealand, Britain, the U.S., Canada, Fiji and Kenya have teams in both men’s and women’s draws, along with host Japan.
SAILING: Many spots in the 10 classes have been clinched. An Asian Olympic qualifier in Abu Dhabi has been postponed until mid-April, and a World Cup Series regatta in Genoa, Italy, that would have been a qualifier for African, Asian and European countries, has been canceled. The IOC has granted World Sailing an extension of the qualification period to June 30.
SOCCER: Men — Fourteen of 16 teams have already qualified. The tournament to produce the two teams from the North and Central American and Caribbean region was scheduled for March 20 to April 1 in Guadalajara, Mexico, but was indefinitely postponed; Women — Ten of 12 teams have already qualified, including the reigning World Cup champion United States. China and South Korea were scheduled to play in a two-legged playoff that has been pushed back to early June. Cameroon is set to play Chile in a two-legged playoff in early April, but no announcement on that match has been made.
SOFTBALL: The field for the six-nation competition was set in four qualifying tournaments in 2018 and 2019.
SWIMMING: Most Olympic berths will be determined at national trials. The U.S. meet is scheduled for Omaha, Neb., on June 21-28; Australia’s is scheduled for June 14-19 in Adelaide; Japan’s national championship is in Tokyo on April 1-8. The final two events on the TYR Pro Swim Series, a big part of pre-Olympic training, are scheduled for April 16-19 in Mission Viejo, and May 6-9 in Indianapolis.
TABLE TENNIS: The U.S. already wrapped up qualifying, with three men and three women earning spots in Tokyo. Qualifying elsewhere was still in progress and scheduled to continue through May. But the International Table Tennis Federation suspended all activities until the end of April and recommended that continental associations follow that decision. An emergency meeting of the ITTF executive committee is scheduled for Monday.
TENNIS: The International Tennis Federation says Olympic eligibility still will be based on the WTA and ATP rankings of June 8, even though more than a month of the tours’ schedules in March and April have been scrapped. Requirements related to minimum participation in Fed Cup or Davis Cup remain in place — as does an appeals process for players who do not meet those standards.
VOLLEYBALL: The qualification was completed in January with the 12 teams for both the men’s and women’s competitions already set.
WATER POLO: Men’s and women’s qualification tournaments scheduled for this month have been postponed until May. At stake are the final three spots for the 12-team men’s field and the last two openings in the 10-team women’s competition. The U.S. men and women have already qualified.
WEIGHTLIFTING: Spots are decided by the world ranking. The continental championships next month were meant to be the last gold-level events offering extra qualifying points. However, the European, Asian and African championships have all been postponed along with another gold-level event, junior worlds.
WRESTLING: The U.S. trials that had been scheduled for April 4-5 in State College, Pa., have been postponed.
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