The decision to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Games ‘could become inevitable’ if the pandemic made it impossible to organize the Olympic Games in safe conditions, the Japanese Prime Minister acknowledged on Monday. It is the first time that he has officially mentioned this option.
Speaking before the Japanese Parliament, Shinzo Abe assured that his country was still committed to organize the Olympic Games in the best conditions, but that ‘if it became difficult, taking into account in priority the athletes’, the decision of a postponement ‘could become inevitable’.
Despite the incessant spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the world and the growing questions around the Tokyo Olympics, Mr. Abe had never officially mentioned this option.
His about-face comes after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) opened the door to a postponement of the event on Sunday, giving itself four weeks to decide with all its partners.
Cancellation excluded
‘Cancellation is not among the possibilities’, nevertheless insisted Monday Abe, in unison with the IOC president Thomas Bach who the day before had already declared that canceling the Olympic Games was’ not at ‘agenda’ because it ‘would destroy the Olympic dream’.
For an ever-increasing number of athletes and national sports federations, while almost all competitions are suspended worldwide, it is no longer time to procrastinate about the holding of the world’s largest sporting event.
The requests for postponement had hitherto poured in dispersed order within the sports world, but are more and more insistent every day from the athletes and the national authorities.
The coronavirus pandemic is currently forcing nearly a billion people around the world to stay at home, most of them subject to drastic containment measures. Many athletes find it impossible to prepare properly under these conditions.
/ ATS
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