IOC President Thomas Bach during a press conference in Lausanne, March 25, 2020. -

Denis Balibouse / AP / SIPA

The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, said Monday he was "very confident" about the presence of spectators at the Tokyo-2020 Olympic Games scheduled for next summer after being postponed for a year due to of the coronavirus.

Supporters all vaccinated?

The upsurge in infections across the world and the renewal of containment measures in some countries have revived doubts about the possibility of organizing the Games if the pandemic is not brought under control in the first half of 2021. At the end of a interview in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Mr. Bach praised the measures to fight against the coronavirus being prepared by the Tokyo-2020 organizing committee and the Japanese government.

#PM_Suga welcomed IOC President Thomas Bach at the @JPN_PMO, engaging in a fruitful discussion aiming towards the success of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

@ Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/SHD413I7OS

- Koichiro Matsumoto (@ KoichiroMatsu1) November 16, 2020

"We are in the process of putting together a huge toolbox in which we will put all the measures we can imagine," said the IOC boss.

Next year, "we will be able to take (the) right tools out of this box and use them to ensure a safe environment for all participants in the Games," he added.

"It makes us very, very confident that we will be able to have spectators in the Olympic stadiums next year."

Thomas Bach, who is on a two-day visit to Tokyo, also pledged that the IOC "goes to great lengths" to ensure that as many participants and spectators as possible are vaccinated before they arrive at the venue. Japan, if a vaccine is available by next July.

Sport

Coronavirus: Foreign spectators could finally avoid Tokyo quarantine

Sport

Olympic Games 2020: Tokyo unveils measures to "simplify" the event due to the coronavirus

  • Covid 19

  • Tokyo

  • Olympic Games

  • Sport

  • Coronavirus