If the coronavirus pandemic is not brought under control within a year, the Tokyo Olympics cannot be postponed again and will therefore be canceled, announced the chairman of the organizing committee, Yoshiro, on Tuesday April 28. Mori. 

At the end of March 2020, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) took the historic decision to postpone the Olympic Games, which were initially scheduled to open on July 24, 2020, following growing concerns and pressure from athletes. and sports federations in the face of the global health crisis. 

The Tokyo Games have been rescheduled 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 it will be necessary to cancel" the Olympic Games, said Yoshiro 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. 

Yoshiro Mori had already underlined last week that, "thinking of both the athletes and the problems caused 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 hopeful that all the parties will come together and give us wonderful games," he said in an interview with the German daily Die Welt. 

A huge logistical challenge 

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, he repeated, "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 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 think it is unlikely that the Olympics will take place next year," he said to the press. 

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 Football and Copa America, slated for 2020, have also been postponed to 2021 (June 11-July 11).

With AFP

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