The IOF and WOC 2021 organisers have agreed on a freezing of all official training activities for WOC 2021 due to fairness reasons associated with new travel restrictions in the Czech Republic. Updated terrain embargoes have been published on the WOC 2021 website and in IOF Eventor.
Due to the current situation with the Covid-19 pandemic, the Czech Republic has put in place travel restrictions which make it practically impossible for certain nations citizens, primarily from outside the European Union (EU) but also within the EU, to travel to the Czech Republic. This means that, from a basic fairness perspective, teams and individual athletes are not allowed equal access to training opportunities for WOC 2021 on site in the Czech Republic.
In the interest of fairness, the IOF and WOC 2021 Organisers have therefore agreed on a freezing of all official training activities for WOC 2021 from now and until such time from which travel restrictions into the Czech Republic are lifted and allow equal access to training opportunities.
We ask national teams and individual athletes, who may not be affected by travel restrictions, to respect the above call for Fair Play and
- do not travel to the Czech Republic to do specific WOC training.
- respect the embargoes on the official WOC training areas.
Please review and understand the updated terrain embargoes on the WOC 2021 website and in IOF Eventor. The training embargo is primarily for the sandstone forest terrains. The terrains will be declared open and training activities restored as soon as travelling into the Czech Republic is possible again and equal access can be achieved. The organisers will update the information as required and by December 2020 at the latest will inform all teams about changes to planned official training activities.
During this period, the members of the Czech national team will not do any WOC specific orienteering sessions. The organisers will also be informing clubs in the Czech Republic about these efforts to encourage Fair Play and asking their support in enforcing this freeze.