People are dying of a new virus.
And it's spreading like wildfire across Asia.
We know that the virus has entered Russia,
the epidemic has probably started
and its consequences are difficult to predict.
CORONAVIRUS DEATH TOLL TOPS 1,000
WITH OVER 42,000 CONFIRMED CASES
The virus has a significant impact
on the preparation for sports competitions.
'A public health emergency of International concern.'
That's a title reserved only for
the most serious of epidemics.
MOSCOW, RUSSIA
28TH FEBRUARY 2020
NATIONAL GYMNASTICS TRAINING CENTRE - ROUND LAKE, MOSCOW
Good morning.
The plan has changed, and I'm not going
to the World Cup in Stuttgart anymore.
RUSSIA WITHDRAWS FROM THE WORLD CUP DUE TO CORONAVIRUS
ALL-AROUND WORLD CUP 2020 - CANCELLED
Now I will just be competing
at the Russian Championships in Penza.
We have been asked to avoid public spaces,
because it's too dangerous.
The most difficult thing about this coronavirus
is that there is so much confusing news around it.
It is very unclear in your head what is going on.
Gelya, come on.
We're just continuing to train as normal.
Whether these competitions happen or not,
you always need to be ready.
You need to do three more.
Everyone gets tense,
because athletes get ready and spend their energy
training for competitions.
You could've done it by now. What are you afraid of?
If everything just gets cancelled,
athletes lose their motivation
and faith completely.
She needs to keep training this constantly.
It's not that she doesn't want to. She has to feel herself.
Do you really want to do it or not?
I really want to, but I can't get on it.
You start getting ready for competitions
half a year or a year in advance.
So when you read that even the Olympics could be cancelled
then you don't understand why you're here,
why you're training.
GUANGZHOU, GUANGDONG, CHINA
29TH FEBRUARY 2020
The virus is very challenging for everyone,
not only the Chinese gymnastics team.
The virus is affecting training and competitions.
We planned to come to Guangzhou to train for two weeks.
I'm still in Guangzhou because of the coronavirus.
The epidemic is very serious now,
so we are not going back to Beijing yet.
I'm now concerned that
the coronavirus may affect competitions.
Every day the coaches and team doctors
remind us to take precautions.
The team gave us gloves, masks, and hand sanitizer.
Open your knees a little bit more. Good, now push up.
We have to take our temperatures
to get in and out of the buildings.
I hope everyone in our team can stay healthy and safe.
I hope we can overcome the epidemic soon.
Go China!
MILWAUKEE WISCONSIN, USA
7TH MARCH 2020
My last competition was World trials.
I do think I have to prove
that I'm still kind of worthy of an Olympic spot.
I think she's feeling the pressure from every direction,
and she adds additional pressure from her own self.
Welcome to the 2020 American Cup!
I started on vault.
Really good for her.
You take and you examine that bar routine,
and that says "Morgan Hurd, I am back."
It's a huge upgrade if she does it.
-And she does. -Wow.
-There you go. -There you go, Morgan Hurd.
There's no doubt, no question, Morgan Hurd
will get her second American Cup victory.
I couldn't be more proud, I mean, no matter what,
if she'd have won or not,
I would have been proud of her regardless.
We had this look at each other,
“Come on, we’re gonna do it. Whatever it is, we’ll do it.”
So, I'm very proud of her.
I had such a disappointing 2019, I felt like,
I couldn't get lower,
so the only way to go was up from there.
Morgan Hurd!
1ST PLACE 2020 AMERICAN CUP
18TH MARCH 2020
So, since American Cup, a whole lot has happened, obviously.
Just recently we kind of went into
almost like a lockdown thing,
which meant that all businesses,
all non-essentials had to close.
It almost feels like we're living inside of a book,
inside of like a dystopian novel kind of thing.
Like, everything shutting down. There's no one on the streets
and everything like that.
You never think it'll actually kind of happen
in your lifetime.
So since I don't know how long...
I'm gonna be out, I kind of took a bunch of equipment.
It's hard to have a set plan
because we're kind of just like,
“Well, should I be doing routines?
Should I lay off of routines,
maybe do parts instead?" I just wanna know now
so that I'm not wasting my time.
It's pretty insane because it's something
that obviously I've been dreaming
about my entire life,
and it almost just sometimes feels like,
it's like slipping away.
MOSCOW, RUSSIA
20TH MARCH 2020
We have just been informed that we are not going to Penza
for the Russian Championships, because of the coronavirus.
The mood at the camp is tense,
because everyone is a little shocked
at how the virus has spread globally.
It turns out that all major competitions
are being cancelled.
Everything we were preparing for is ultimately over
and nobody knows what to do.
It's mentally tough, because it's a really unique situation.
I'm losing my motivation.
24TH MARCH 2020
It's official, the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo
have been postponed because of the coronavirus.
An Olympic Games has never been postponed before.
This is unprecedented.
The first ever Olympics to be postponed.
In order to safeguard the health of the athletes
and everybody involved in the Olympic Games,
we agree to postpone Tokyo 2020.
This tears up athletes' training plans completely.
We want this Olympic flame
to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
NEXT TIME
THE CLOCK RESETS