Tokyo Olympics: postponement will cost the IOC "hundreds of millions of dollars" - France 24

Lausanne (AFP)

The postponement to 2021 of the Tokyo Olympics because of the new coronavirus will represent for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) an additional cost of "several hundred million dollars", estimated Wednesday its president Thomas Bach.

"We already know that we will have to bear several hundred million dollars in costs due to the postponement," said the German in a letter to the Olympic movement.

"This is why," he continued, "it is also necessary for us to examine and review all the services we provide for these postponed Games."

The IOC "will continue to bear its share of the operational load and its share of the costs for these postponed Games, according to the terms of the existing contract for 2020 that we have concluded with our Japanese partners and friends," he said.

The IOC, which has approximately $ 1 billion (EUR 926 million) in reserves to deal with the possible cancellation of the Olympic Games, took the historic decision to postpone the Games at the end of March. July 24, 2020.

The Tokyo Olympics are now scheduled to take place from July 23 to August 8, 2021.

But if the coronavirus pandemic is not brought under control within a year, the Olympic Games cannot be postponed again and will therefore be canceled, warned the head of the organizing committee (Cojo) Yoshiro Mori on Tuesday.

The working group that brings together the IOC and various partners, including the Cojo, has established "management priorities and strategies to ensure the feasibility and success of these postponed Olympic Games," added Thomas Bach.

These priorities include "first of all the creation of a safe environment in terms of health for all the participants", he added, adding that the IOC continues to rely "on the advice of the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding possible adaptations to the organization of mass gatherings ".

While "nobody knows what the realities of the post-coronavirus world will look like", Mr. Bach also announced that the IOC which employs around 600 people, "is in the process of reviewing (its) budget and (its) priorities ".

The boss of the Olympic movement also called for "thinking" about what social distancing can mean "for our relationships with e-sports".

While respecting the "red line" when it comes to Olympic values, Mr. Bach "even more strongly urges all of our stakeholders to examine how to govern the electronic and virtual forms of their sports and to explore the possibilities offered by game publishers ", he added.

© 2020 AFP