The Tokyo Olympics, postponed to 2021, could be held in front of a "limited number of spectators" due to the coronavirus pandemic, the managing director of the organizing committee, Toshiro Muto, told the BBC on Wednesday.
"Everyone should focus on holding the event next year - we are on the same page" with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its president Thomas Bach, first said Mr. Muto regarding the Games now scheduled for July 23 to August 8, 2021.
According to Mr. Muto, the President of the IOC “does not want” the Olympic Games to take place behind closed doors but “could perhaps think about a limited number of spectators while taking full account of social distancing” to avoid any spread of the Covid -19. “We have to build an environment where the public feels safe. Athletes like the IOC family could be subjected to tests before and after their arrival in Japan, ”he explained.
Tokyo hopes for a vaccine by then
For Muto, it is "too optimistic to assume that all restrictions (in force in Japan) will be lifted" next summer, this situation leading to "thinking about other options" of organization, as the entry into Japanese territory is now prohibited to visitors from more than 100 countries. Regarding the discovery of a proven vaccine, Mr. Muto said that this would be "an advantage (but) not a precondition" to the holding of the Games.
Recently, the president of the organizing committee Yoshiro Mori had told him that "the first point (before the Olympics) will be the development of a vaccine or a drug". For the president of the IOC coordinating committee for the Olympic Games-2020, John Coates, speaking in an Australian daily, the organizers "are moving forward on the basis that there will be no vaccine" in order to prepare for all scenarios.
Japan has so far experienced a relatively small coronavirus outbreak, with 1,001 deaths and 31,900 cases, but infections are on the rise, especially in the capital Tokyo.
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