John Coates, the vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said on Monday that the Tokyo Olympics, postponed to 2021, would take place, no matter what happened to the coronavirus pandemic.
"It will be the Games that have defeated the Covid, the light at the end of the tunnel," he said.
The Tokyo Olympics, postponed to 2021, will take place next year, regardless of the coronavirus pandemic, John Coates, vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on Monday.
In a telephone interview with AFP on Monday, the chairman of the IOC's coordination committee for the Olympic Games-2020, said that the Tokyo Games will take place "with or without" coronavirus and "will begin on July 23 of the next year".
"It will be the Games that have defeated the Covid, the light at the end of the tunnel," he said.
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The theme of these Games will be that of "reconstruction after the devastation caused by the tsunami", said John Coates, referring to the earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan in 2011. The Olympics do not have so far only been canceled in times of war.
They were initially supposed to be inaugurated on July 24, but the organizers in March made the historic decision to postpone them until the summer of 2021, as the Covid-19 progressed around the world.
Japanese government "has not given up at all"
The Japanese authorities have made it clear that they do not want the Games to be postponed a second time.
Japan's borders currently remain largely closed to foreigners, and many experts doubt the pandemic will be under control by next summer.
According to several recent polls, a clear majority of Japanese want the Olympics to be postponed again or their cancellation due to the coronavirus.
John Coates stressed that the Japanese government "has not given up at all" following this postponement, despite the "monumental task" of this one-year delay.
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“Before the Covid, (IOC President) Thomas Bach said it was the best prepared Games we have ever seen, the venues were almost all finished, they are now finished, the village is amazing, (.. .) everything is fine, ”he said.