After several weeks denying the possibility, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) accepted on Tuesday that, if it is dangerous to hold the Tokyo Olympics this summer for the coronavirus, they will be canceled. According to Dick Pound, the member of the IOC with more years of seniority in the entity, in the next two or three months it will be decided whether there are Games or not, but in no case will they be postponed next year or organized in another city.
"The question we will have to ask ourselves then will be: Is there enough control of the virus to be able to rely on the celebration of the Games?" He commented in an interview with The Associated Press. According to Pound, the cancellation should be decided with some margin because in the weeks leading up to the inauguration "many things happen. Security, food, the Olympic Village, hotels, facilities for the media must be organized ..." . In spite of everything, the veteran member of the IOC encouraged the athletes to continue training: "As far as we all know, there will be Tokyo Olympics. Right now the signs indicate that everything is going on as usual."
Pound also rejected the possibility of a move to another city because "there are few places in the world that can prepare a Games in such a short time" and he flatly denied the option of a postponement: "You cannot postpone something the size of the Games. so many countries, so many competitive calendars, so many television interests at stake that it is impossible to say: 'Come on, we better do it in October'. " In addition, the leader revealed that the IOC has an emergency fund of $ 1 billion for unforeseen circumstances such as this.
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