"Better to be behind closed doors than not at all" says Estanguet on Tokyo 2020

The boss of the 2024 Olympics Tony Estanguet during Global Sports Week in Paris, February 2, 2020. -

Better a 2020 Olympics without an audience than no Olympics at all.

This is what the president of the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee, Tony Estanguet, affirms, although the idea of ​​making Tokyo 2020 without supporters does not delight him.

"I would regret it terribly, but the reality is that you have to adapt".

“It is better to be behind closed doors than not at all,” he added, on the sidelines of a visit to the new headquarters of the organizing committee (Cojo) in Saint-Denis.

“Everything is implemented by the organizing committee and the authorities so that the Games can take place,” continued the three-time Olympic canoe champion.

Fewer athletes at the opening ceremony

"We can clearly see that it is very difficult for this organizing committee and the authorities to deal with this health crisis," he added.

"I have the impression, having exchanged a few days ago with the IOC, that everything is thought out, imagined to be able to adapt according to the health context, to find the solution so that the Games take place, with more or fewer spectators, it could even be behind closed doors if ever the sanitary conditions required it, but the will is very strong to maintain this event, ”he added.

On Monday, the organizers announced that the number of athletes at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Tokyo Olympics should be reduced because of the pandemic of the new coronavirus.

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