Olympic sport, like many other activities, has suffered a terrible shock throughout 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
It has experienced an unprecedented reality in history, forcing the suspension or postponement of a large number of events and consequently leaving huge economic losses globally.
At the local level the situation has been equally dire and as a result there have been significant economic losses at all levels. The loss of jobs for technicians, administrative and support staff has been the daily “cry”.
People, in a general sense, have also been deprived of competitive and recreational events by the preventive measures implemented by health authorities to prevent contagion.
Globally
The wave of cancellations began in Asia, where it first hit COVID-19, then in Europe, with Italy and Spain as the most affected countries, and North America, with the main focus currently in the United States.
The strongest blow in the field of sports was suffered by Olympism, which was forced to postpone the Tokyo Olympics for next year.
For the first time in history, the threat of a disease causes the suspension of an edition of the Olympic Games. This time the coronavirus doubled the organizers of Tokyo 2020 to bring the games to the month of July 2021, after an investment exceeding $ 12.3 billion.
No less important have been the economic losses experienced by the different football leagues in Europe, Asia and America and with them the clubs. Also the elite professional tennis tournaments, Formula One, the Major Leagues, the NBA and the world championships of a wide range of sports that attract crowds.
Many of these events were suspended and then resumed by taking extreme measures to prevent contagion from the terrible Covid-19 that still gravitates around the world, producing resurgences that has forced many countries to call for confinement.
Today the stages are empty too and all of them because of the Coronavirus.
Local sport
Like the rest of the world, the Dominican Republic has experienced and is going through difficult times in terms of sports.
Sports activity has been overshadowed. The traditional local basketball tournaments could not take place, especially the superior tournaments of Santiago and the National District that were in the final stage. The baseball tournament takes place abnormally, with a cropped schedule and no audience which makes it a “seasonless” event.
Recently the match of the Dominican League of Soccer was realized, also of atypical way, with a reduced calendar.
Many other local tournaments were affected to this day.
Likewise, Dominican athletes from different sports who were scheduled to participate in international tournaments had to give up in the face of suspensions or postponements, especially those looking for places for which the Tokyo Olympics.
Athletes in athletics, boxing, basketball, wrestling, badminton weightlifting and others, are in a so-called “bubble” at the Olympic Hostel, hoping that in the first months of the year the stages will open to play places for the Tokyo Olympics, however, and despite the existence of a vaccine to tackle the aggressive Covid-19 virus, nothing is defined.
In the Dominican Republic, sports activity has been paralyzed almost completely since mid-March this year.
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Worldwide damage
inertia
The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the sport hard at all levels, both locally and internationally.
novelty
In the East region, in a luxurious hotel, an international basketball event was held, corresponding to a qualifier, but it was necessary to do it behind closed doors, with all the actors confined in hotels.