Call off the Olympic Games now is the call from top Sheffield-based coach

Tokyo is scheduled to host the event in July and August and all indications so far have been that preparations are ongoing on that basis.

Minichiello is coaching Ireland’s Kate O’Connor as she seeks to qualify for the heptathlon and has warned that the uncertainty, combined with the postponement of events elsewhere, creates an uneven playing field for athletes.

The Olympic flame is officially in Japanese hands as doubt continues to swirl over the effect the coronavirus outbreak will have on the Tokyo Games.

He wrote in the Times: “This week the English Institute of Sport here in Sheffield was closed down - that’s where we use the indoor track and the weights room. Added to that, Sheffield Hallam University has shut off access to its outdoor track. It means we’re kind of stuffed.

“One of (my athletes has) a garage that is now set up as a home gym, but for outdoor work our only option is running hills in the park. It’s far from ideal, and from what I’m hearing and reading the issues we are facing because of the coronavirus pandemic are not uncommon across international sport.

“Already it feels to me like we need to postpone the Olympic Games. I appreciate how difficult that might be for the organisers; it’s a massive headache given the logistics involved. But this is also extremely difficult for all the athletes out there, as well as the coaches.

“At some point, those in power need to realise that such disrupted preparation will affect the integrity of the sport. Take a sprinter. They need proper competition. They need high-level races, with all the pressure that brings, to get them into shape for an event as important as the Olympic Games. You can’t recreate that pressure environment in a training session.”

Katarina Johnson-Thompson was one high-profile athlete to speak out on the issue of preparation and Minichiello feels the authorities must take note.

“The athletes on the world-class programme at UK Athletics, and those who have already achieved the Olympic qualifying standard, still have access to facilities and support staff. But for the athletes outside that programme who were going into this summer hoping to force their way into a British team, it is now really tough.

“They will struggle to get the necessary ranking points, just as they will struggle to find a competition when they can achieve the qualifying standard. That is not fair, and it becomes even more of a concern when the lack of top-level competition means these athletes can’t earn money.

“When an athlete of the stature of Katarina Johnson-Thompson expresses concern that her preparation is suffering, the International Olympic Committee and the organisers of the Tokyo Games perhaps need to listen. Pushing the Olympics back and buying everyone a bit of time would certainly make sense to me right now.”

Japanese Olympic swimmer Naoko Imoto received the flame from Hellenic Olympic Committee President Spyros Capralos in a scaled-down ceremony in Athens.

The only people in attendance at the Panathenaic Stadium were two Greek priestesses who watched on as Greek Olympic gymnast Eleftherios Petrounias conducted a lap of honour with the flame.

“We bid farewell to this great Olympic symbol, which brings together humanity, antiquity and modern times,” Capralos said as he handed the flame to Imoto.

“I wish to believe that the journey of the Olympic flame in your country will offer joy and hope to the people of the whole world, who are currently in pain and challenged.”

The International Olympic Committee said they remain fully committed to staging the Tokyo 2020 Games as scheduled this summer, despite Japan’s Olympic minister Seiko Hashimoto suggesting it could be postponed until later in the year.