The Tokyo 2020 Olympics, postponed to the summer of 2021 due to the spread of the new coronavirus, will be canceled if the pandemic is not brought under control by then, the Japanese committee chairman said in an interview on Tuesday. organization, Yoshiro Mori. If the pandemic is still going on, "then the Games will have to be canceled," Mori said in an interview with sports daily Nikkan, saying it would be impossible to postpone it 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 caused for the organization, it is technically difficult to postpone for two years" the competition.
While recalling that the Olympics have so far been canceled only in times of war, 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 by 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 critical of the country's management of the epidemic said he was "pessimistic" about 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.
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