World Athletics president Seb Coe admits the COVID-19 pandemic could make for an uneven playing field at this summer's Olympics, if the Toyko Games go ahead.
Athletes in Europe have been hit by restrictions of movement laws in recent weeks while the qualification schedule has been heavily disrupted with events being postponed.
43% of competitors will need to secure their places at the Games through modified qualifiers, or through previous performances based on ranking.
"Recent evidence suggests China seems to be pulling out of this but if you're living in Europe, you're an Italian distance runner and you're confined to your house, that's a massive challenge," Coe told The Times.
"Our sport has always been about fairness and a level playing field so we shouldn't feel ashamed to set that as our ambition. The reality is that may not be possible in every case but we want to do what we can to drill down on that.
"Some are not able to train properly, some are not able to access public tracks or indoor facilities and we're working to try and help them find these facilities."
Coe, who headed up London's 2012 organising committee admits the coronavirus outbreak has created a difficult scenario for the IOC.
"I lived through Moscow and that was a crisis. This has probably exercised more thinking time and expended more effort for federations than anything I can remember.
"We're doing everything we possibly can to get our sport and our athletes into the best possible shape through a challenging time and get to an Olympic Games."
Yesterday IOC president Thomas Bach insisted they're still planning for the Olympics to proceed as planned in July:
“Everybody realised that we have still more than four months to go and we will address this action, and we will keep acting in a responsible way in the interest of the athletes."
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
