Lord Coe says the decision to postpone the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics has saved athletes from mental turmoil.
The Games have been postponed until next year in a decision supported by Coe.
"We didn't want to have the athletes in a position where they were countering government advice, maybe even breaking the law," the World Athletics president told TalkSport.
"And of course in the back of their minds was always that concern, it wasn't just their own training programme, but that they ran the risk of infecting themselves, their families, their kids, grandparents or parents. We just wanted to take them out of that mental turmoil as quickly as we possibly could.
"We're no different from everyone else out there but I think we just concluded that sport, on this occasion, had to take a back seat."
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