Tokyo (AFP)

What will happen to the Tokyo Olympics if the coronavirus pandemic is not brought under control within a year? They can not be postponed again and will therefore be canceled, said Tuesday the head of the organizing committee Yoshiro Mori.

In late March, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) made the historic decision to postpone the Games - which were originally scheduled to open on July 24, 2020 - following mounting concerns and pressure from athletes and of sports federations faced with the world health crisis.

The Tokyo Games are now scheduled to take place from July 23 to August 8, 2021 and the Paralympic Games from August 24 to September 5, 2021.

But if the pandemic is still underway next summer "then we will have to cancel" the Games, said Tuesday Mr. Mori in an interview with the sports daily Nikkan, explaining that it would be impossible to postpone them again.

Asked about the prospect of a further postponement until 2022 if the pandemic was still not under control in the summer of 2021, the president of the organizing committee was categorical, rejecting this possibility.

Mr. Mori had already stressed last Thursday that, "thinking of both the athletes and the problems created for the organization, it is technically difficult to postpone the competition for two years".

In mid-April, IOC boss Thomas Bach himself explained that the Olympic Games could not be postponed beyond the summer of 2021.

"There is no postponement plan, but I am very confident that all parties will come together and give us wonderful games," said Bach in an interview with the German daily Die Welt.

- "Invisible enemy" -

While recalling that the Olympics have so far been canceled only during wartime, Yoshiro Mori compared the fight against the Covid-19 to "a battle against an invisible enemy".

"We will organize the Games in peace next year", if the virus is contained, repeated Mr. Mori, "it is the bet made by humanity".

During a press briefing on Tuesday, the president of the Japanese medical association, Yoshitake Yokokura, said that the good performance of the Games would be "excessively difficult" if no vaccine was available on that date.

"I am not saying they should not take place but it would be exceedingly difficult," he said.

- A "pessimistic" infectiologist -

A point of view already expressed on March 20 by the specialist in infectious diseases of the University of Kobe (west), Kentaro Iwata, who said he was "pessimistic".

"Honestly, I don't think it is likely that the Olympics will take place next year," he said to the press.

After having assured for several weeks that the Tokyo Games would be held on time, Japan and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) resolved at the end of March to postpone the Olympic Games for a year, under pressure from the athletes and sports associations from different countries.

If the organizers wanted to make it a symbol of the world's resilience to the pandemic, the question of a longer delay has started to be raised. Earlier this week, a Japanese infectious disease specialist who criticized the country's handling of the epidemic said he was "pessimistic" about the holding of the Games in 2021.

The postponement of the Games represents an immense logistical challenge for the organizers and should entail significant additional costs, the distribution of which between the organizing committee and the IOC has not yet been decided.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Euro soccer and Copa America, scheduled for 2020, were also postponed to 2021 (June 11-July 11).

© 2020 AFP