Lausanne (AFP)

Postponing the Tokyo Olympics to 2021 will require "sacrifices and compromises": in the aftermath of the historic decision to postpone the Olympics by one year due to coronavirus, IOC President Thomas Bach warned that the task would be difficult and called all the actors to the sacred union.

Announced Tuesday when the pressure from athletes but also from the National Olympic Committees became untenable, the postponement to 2021 of the Olympics initially scheduled from July 24 to August 9 "will require sacrifices and compromises from all parties", namely the organizers, the IOC, international federations, athletes and sponsors, said Thomas Bach, during a telephone press conference attended by more than 400 media from around the world.

Since the renaissance of the Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens, thanks to the French baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the IOC two years earlier, the biggest planetary sporting event had ever been postponed. Except because of the two world conflicts of the 20th century which had led to the outright cancellation of the Olympic Games 1916, 1940 (already planned in Tokyo) and 1944.

Faced with the unprecedented threat of the coronavirus, which has already killed more than 19,000 people around the world and continues to spread, Thomas Bach acknowledged that the scenario of an outright cancellation of the Games had been "put on the table ".

- Cancellation has been "discussed" -

"Of course, the question of a cancellation was discussed and studied, but it was very clear from the start that the cancellation of the Olympic Games was never a priority, because our mission is to organize the Games and make the athletes' dream is possible, "said the German IOC president, who knows all too well what it means to participate in the Olympic Games, he who became Olympic team fencing champion in Montreal in 1976.

But postponing "the most complicated sporting event in the world to organize" will be a huge headache, "a challenge", according to Bach, forcing an already busy international calendar to be turned upside down.

Thus, UEFA decided last week to postpone the Euro for football to June-July 2021, as did the South American Confederation (Conmebol) with Copa America.

Two major World Championships are also scheduled for the summer of 2021: the World Athletics Championships (August 6-15) in Eugene (United States) and the Swimming World Championships, scheduled in Japan (Fukuoka) from July 16 to August 1 .

As of Monday, World Athletics (ex-IAAF) indicated that it had started discussions with American organizers with a view to postponing its 2021 Worlds.

Questioned by AFP on Tuesday, an official of the International Swimming Federation (Fina) also assured that postponing the Worlds would be "not a problem".

- Dialogue with 33 federations -

But the Tokyo Olympics will bring together 33 federations (the 28 usual sports plus 5 new ones, namely surfing, karate, climbing, skateboarding and baseball / softball), as many bodies that had already scheduled continental competitions and intercontinental.

As of Thursday, the working group created by the IOC and baptized "Here we go" ("Let's go!") Will organize a conference call with the federations. The International Summer Sports Association (Asoif) will also act as an intermediary, according to one of its officials.

As for possible dates, Mr. Bach also confirmed that "all options are on the table, before and during the summer of 2021".

But according to a source close to the IOC, the option of the Olympic Games in the summer of 2021 "is the preferred solution of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe".

In addition, already facing the suspension of their championships due to the coronavirus and perhaps deprived of the final phase of continental competitions (like the Champions League in Europe), the leaders of certain team sports in particular (football, basketball -ball ...) would probably take a dim view of the Olympics competition in the spring of 2021.

Beyond the sports calendar, these are also the huge logistical and organizational challenges that the Tokyo Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, with the essential support of the Japanese government, will have to resolve.

- The challenge of the Olympic Village -

Among them, the question of the Olympic Village, which must accommodate 11,000 athletes in apartments, many of which have already found ... buyers.

These homes were to be quickly redeveloped after the summer into more than 4,000 apartments, some of which have a sale price of 170 million yen (1.4 million euros at current prices).

For Thomas Bach, the question of the Olympic Village is certainly "one of the thousands of questions to be answered". But, he continued, in a lyrical tone, "all those who have stayed at the Olympic Village know what this experience represents, we only live it once".

"Living under one roof, in the midst of athletes from all over the world, sharing our meals, celebrating, talking together, that is Olympic unity," he added.

Before concluding: "We are in an unprecedented situation and facing an unprecedented challenge".

© 2020 AFP