Just over half of Tokyo residents oppose hosting the 2020 Olympics in their city next year due to the coronavirus pandemic next year, according to a poll released Monday.
51.7% of those responding to a survey by two Japanese media this weekend said they hoped the Games would either be postponed again or canceled, while 46.3% said they hoped they would be held in 2021. More specifically, 27.7% would like a pure and simple cancellation and 24.0% a second postponement, 31.1% hope for Games of a reduced magnitude and 15.2% for full and whole Olympics.
2021 or never
Conducted by telephone by the Japanese news agency Kyodo and the television channel Tokyo MX from June 26 to 28, the survey collected 1,030 responses. The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games were postponed in late March as the pandemic progressed, causing the world's largest sporting event to be the worst disruption since World War II.
Japanese officials and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have made it clear that the Games will not be postponed a second time, but will be canceled if the virus still prevents it from being held safely, as predicted by public health experts. The postponed Olympics must open on July 23, 2021, keeping the name Tokyo 2020.
"We will organize Games in a safe and serene environment for athletes and spectators from abroad as well as for the inhabitants of Tokyo," said the governor of the immense capital, Yuriko Koike, recently during a interview given to AFP.
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Coronavirus: Tokyo is working on a reduced Olympics because of the postponement to 2021
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