• Japan: Assumes Tokyo Olympics will be canceled

On March 24, after uncertainties and rumors, Japan ended up impotent surrender to the pandemic.

The last dam fell,

the Olympic Games were postponed until the following summer as the lesser evil

.

10 months have passed since that painful and inevitable decision, unprecedented since the two world wars, and the coronavirus keeps all doubts alive in Tokyo, despite everything that remains at stake.

The fuse lit on Thursday by 'The Times' was sharply cut by all the levels involved, with a haste that triggered suspicions.

The idea and the official message is that

the Games are going to be held

.

But deep down there is a real fear.

An inconvenience as big as the pandemic itself, which, far from subsiding, continues to hit hard, also in the Asian country.

The clamor of the population there against their own Games grows to the point of feeding all doubts.

From the International Olympic Committee (IOC), its president

Thomas Bach

wanted to endorse his clear message.

«The CIO remains firm in its idea that the Games are going to be held.

You are obviously working to find the formulas that will solve all the problems.

And they are awaiting the evolution of the pandemic, "

Alejandro Blanco

clarified

to this newspaper, reiterating the proclamation that the COE made public shortly after:" Some news that circulate reports that the Government of Japan has made the decision privately that the Tokyo Olympics are canceled due to the coronavirus.

This is categorically false.

But beyond the information in 'The Times', citing anonymous sources from the Japanese government, which once again shook the foundations of Olympism - Japan

would have

already

assumed the cancellation, to the point of throwing in the towel and thinking about the next free gap, already in 2032

-, it is the surveys published a few days ago and the sensations transmitted by the population that make the event falter.

Even above the economic losses that its cancellation could entail, the Japanese are suspicious of the Games.

State of alarm

With six months to go before the theoretical start, the pandemic situation in the Japanese country is serious.

And that nervousness shakes the CIO.

Tokyo has had to declare a state of alarm to try to contain the disease.

At the end of December, after detecting cases of the British strain, it

temporarily suspended the entry of foreigners

until the end of January.

And the popular clamor among its inhabitants is growing against the appointment.

About 80% of the Japanese surveyed by the country's official news agency, Kyodo, believed that the Games should be postponed again or directly suspended given the prospects for the coronavirus crisis, with record infections.

According to that poll, made public a few days ago, 35.3% were in favor of the cancellation, while 44.8% said that the event should be delayed once again.

Hence, this Friday's messages did not completely extinguish the flame of uncertainty.

Hope is, of course, on

the effect of vaccines in the medium term

.

From the COE they convey that idea and reinforce the conviction that the Games will be held from July 23.

“I tell athletes to prepare to be a great joy for Spain and great admiration for the whole world.

All this time I have been in contact with the IOC and the message is one of tranquility and security, and that the Games are going to take place ”, declared Blanco, who also refers to the denials that come from the organizing country.

Prime Minister

Yoshihide Suga himself

insisted on Friday that the Games should serve “as proof of humanity's victory against covid-19”: “I am determined to organize safe Games while working closely with the government. Metropolitan Tokyo, the organizing committee (of 2020) and the IOC, "he said in the upper house.

Seiko Hashimoto

, minister in charge of the event, was also clear: "From the Government of Japan we will make every effort towards the realization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer."

What does seem clearer is that there would be no further postponement.

A few days ago, Yoshiro Mori, head of the Organizing Committee, delved into this idea: "A new postponement is absolutely impossible."

And that the presence or not of the public is another of the headaches.

In any case, it will be on the 27th, at the

executive meeting scheduled by the IOC by videoconference

, when the progress in the preparations for the appointment is known.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

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