Tokyo (AFP)

The Paralympic Games scheduled for a year from now must be able to guarantee that there are no cases of coronavirus, otherwise they could not be held, the president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) told AFP in an interview. .

This warning from Andrew Parsons comes as the Paralympic Games are set to kick off in one year to the day in Tokyo on August 24, 2021, two weeks after the end of the rescheduled Olympics from July 23 to August 8.

If in a year "the situation is as it is today", the Games "could not take place", warned the official, recalling that Paralympic athletes are particularly vulnerable to Covid-19. "We must learn more, better prepare ourselves".

The Japanese capital, faced since July with an upsurge in the number of new daily cases of coronavirus, has chosen not to mark the countdown to one year from the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, unlike last year.

In March, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games were postponed for a year due to the pandemic, an unprecedented move. And a logistical nightmare, especially since it is not yet sure that they can actually be held, and in a safe way.

Mr Parsons believes that current physical distance measurements and testing and tracing standards are not sufficient to protect the 4,350 Paralympic athletes and their teams, tens of thousands of spectators, volunteers and media representatives.

"How to make sure that we will not have a single case? A single case in the Village (Paralympic, Editor's note) could really disrupt the Games," he said. "This is where we draw the line."

- Handisport struggles to resume -

It remains to be determined what measures will be necessary and possible. Organizers of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics are due to start talks next month to consider a variety of scenarios, from quarantine to downsizing.

Without commenting on the prospects of holding or not the event in the end, Mr. Parsons said to be "encouraged" by the restart of sports leagues like the NBA, the great North American basketball championship. He admitted, however, that the very scale of the Games made them infinitely more complicated to organize.

"This is why I say that if we do not find a better way to set up the physical distance, the monitoring, the tests, it will be very difficult," insists the Brazilian.

"What has to be put in place that is different from Olympic athletes is not protection against contamination, but what happens if they are contaminated, because it can become very serious, very quickly" for Paralympians, he warns.

"The standard that we have to put in place is: it doesn't matter whether you have a disability or not. You don't catch the virus, period."

While professional sport is timidly making its return after the great confinements, the barriers faced by disabled athletes to resume training and competition are much higher, regrets the boss of the CIP.

The pandemic has "brought to light inequalities in the world," he said, adding that long-term consequences for disabled sports were to be feared, if "the attention of governments and the media and even the support of sponsors only went to the big leagues or to the most famous athletes.

Meanwhile, the lack of wheelchair accessible accommodation in Tokyo remains a problem, said Parsons, who fears a shortage of suitable hotel rooms.

The IPC will ensure that the cost-saving measures necessary for the organization of postponed and smaller-scale Games are not synonymous with less demanding accessibility standards. This point is "non-negotiable," says Parsons.

© 2020 AFP