The Australian Olympic Committee has said its decision to pull out of the 2020 Tokyo Games was unilateral and made without the knowledge of Canada or the International Olympic Committee.
The AOC said March 23 it could not assemble a team for 2020 because of the complications caused by the coronavirus, an announcement that came shortly after Canada's Olympic and Paralympic committees confirmed they would not send athletes.
The double withdrawal prompted speculation that the two national Olympic committees may have acted together with the IOC to give the global body leverage to postpone the games.