The International Olympic Committee has said that the participating countries will be allowed to have ‘stand-by’ or ‘alternate’ players as part of certain team squads during the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, owing to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. After discussions with the International Federations (IFs), IOC has decided “to provide flexibility for team selections in several sports.”
The IOC stated, “Previously, ‘alternate’ replacements were available in the sports of football, handball, hockey, rugby, and water polo; however these were available only as permanent replacements for the Olympic squads. Now each National Olympic Committee (NOC) will be able to use these athletes each month. This will not increase the number of athletes on-site in Japan but will give more flexibility to select within the wider squads, recognising the unique situation for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and giving NOCs maximum flexibility in choosing match squads.”
In the previous Olympics, the rosters used to comprise 18 players and four athletes with the alternate coming as a replacement in case of an injury to a player and once replaced, a player couldn’t return. But this time the IOC allows teams to have alternate players as part of the team squad due to the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
