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Tallahassee (dpa) - In view of a possible cancellation of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, the IOC received a surprising offer from Florida.
The US state is available as a substitute host, wrote top politician Jimmy Patronis, who is responsible for Florida's financial administration, to the International Olympic Committee.
He wanted to encourage IOC President Thomas Bach “to consider moving the 2021 Olympics from Tokyo to the USA, more precisely to Florida,” it said in a letter published by Patronis' office.
Due to the recently increased number of corona infections in Japan, there is an emergency in the Tokyo area.
According to surveys, a clear majority of the Japanese are against hosting the Summer Games this year.
However, the IOC and Japan's government are sticking to their plans for the Tokyo Games and had recently denied reports that a cancellation had already been decided.
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US politician Patronis referred to the Florida experience as a popular tourist destination.
In addition, the state recently successfully hosted competitions such as the season finale of the NBA basketball league under Corona conditions.
A cancellation of the Olympic Games would be “a bitter pill” for the athletes.
So Patronis asked the IOC: "Whatever precautionary measures are necessary, let's figure them out and get it right."
Since the beginning of the corona pandemic, more than 420,900 people have died from the Sars-CoV-2 pathogen in the USA.
In absolute terms, that's more than in any other country in the world.
In total, more than 25 million people have been infected with the coronavirus in the country with around 330 million inhabitants.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210126-99-173458 / 2
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Letter from Patronis to the IOC
JHU data on the corona situation