Japan announces its position on organizing the Tokyo Olympics ... "with or without corona"

The Tokyo Olympics, which has been postponed to the summer of 2021, will be held regardless of the emerging corona virus pandemic, according to what IOC Vice President John Coates said today, Monday, describing it as "the games that defeated Covid."

The games have not been canceled since their founding except for the period of the two world wars, while Coates, who spoke by phone, insisted that the Tokyo Games would start on the revised date, "with or without Covid. The games will start on July 23 next year."

"The games that defeated Covid will be the light at the end of the tunnel," said the head of the Olympic Coordination Committee.

The theme of the games will be "Reconstruction from the damage caused by the tsunami," according to Coates, referring to the earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan in 2011.

The games were scheduled for July 24, but last March the organizers made a historic decision to postpone them to summer 2021. While the new Corona virus was spreading around the world.

The Japanese authorities have clearly indicated that they do not want to postpone the Games again.

Japan's borders remain largely closed to foreigners so far, and many experts are skeptical that the pandemic will be brought under control by next summer.

According to several recent polls, a clear majority of Japanese would like to postpone the Games again or cancel them due to Corona.

Coates stressed that the Japanese government "never gave up" after the delay, despite the "huge task" of delaying by one year.

"Before Covid, (German International Olympic Committee president) Thomas Bach announced that it was the best games we have ever seen in terms of preparation, almost all facilities have been completed, and work has now been completed, the village is wonderful (...) everything is fine. ".

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