New Restrictions in Italy Cast Upcoming Olympic Trials into Doubt

An evolving situation in Italy, which SwimSwam Italia reporter Giusy Cisale has described as ‘chaos,’ that is “changing by the hour,” has left the upcoming Olympic Swimming Trials in doubt.

On Sunday morning, the government enacted new, stricter restrictions that included a ‘red zone’ that blocked all travel to and from Italy’s northern regions that are the heart of that country’s outbreak. That quarantine leaves 16 million people, in essence, stuck where they are and unable to get in and out of the region.

Since then, several other regions have decided to add themselves to the red zone, even in other parts of the country with fewer coronavirus cases. That includes extending the red zone to Riccione, where the 2020 Italian Championships and Olympic Trials are scheduled to be held from March 17th-21st.

According to Cisale, new restrictions and ordinances are being rolled out “by the hour,” and that while the Federazione Italiana Nuoto (FIN), Italy’s governing body for aquatic sports, hasn’t made any new statements or shared much information with its athletes, it would be impossible for the Italian Championships to be held as scheduled without a drastic change in the situation over the next week.

Last week, Italy announced that all sporting events in the country would be held without spectators until April 3rd.

While matches in the Italian soccer league Serie A were held this weekend, the next 2 rounds of play have been pushed back by a week. A total of 10 Serie A matches have been postponed over the last 2 weekends.

That timeline of a week would imply that soccer matches will resume before the swimming championships are scheduled to be held, so it’s possible that some version of the Trials could be held under strict regulations, though that might involve some tightened restrictions to reduce the number of athletes participating.

According to coronatracker.com, Italy has more confirmed cases (7,375) and deaths (366) caused by COVID-19, the disease associated with the novel coronavirus, than any country aside from China, where the virus is believed to have originated.

It’s become increasingly difficult for Italy’s athletes to train, as well, after a number of the country’s pools closed on Sunday evening. That includes Ostia, home to the country’s distance aces Gregorio Paltrinieri and Gabriele Detti; and Aniene, home to World Champion Simona Quadarella and Margherita Panziera. Coaches are scrambling to find places to individually train their top-level true Olympic contenders, but are running into pool managers that don’t want the legal liability