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Japan's government has denied a media report that it had come to the conclusion internally that the Tokyo Olympics must be canceled due to the corona pandemic.
"We completely reject the report," said a government spokesman on Friday in Tokyo.
Of course, the situation abroad had to be taken into account and at some point it had to be decided whether the event would take place.
"But until then, the Japanese government will do what needs to be done," he affirmed.
The English "Times" had reported, citing an unspecified member of the Japanese government coalition, that there was consensus that the games, which had already been postponed by a year, were doomed to fail and had to be canceled.
The national stadium opened in December 2019
Source: Getty Images / Matt Roberts
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The goal is now to find a face-saving form, to announce the cancellation and to keep the option open to host the Olympic Games at a later date.
The next possibility for this would be in 2032.
IOC sees no reason for a cancellation
IOC President Thomas Bach also denied the reports and even with a double negative.
In an interview published on Thursday, he emphasized that he saw no reason to cancel the games.
Thomas Bach has been the IOC President since 2013
Source: Getty Images AsiaPac / Alexander Hassenstein
"At the moment we have absolutely no reason to believe that the Tokyo Olympics will not open at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium on July 23," said the president of the International Olympic Committee of the Japanese news agency Kyodo.
There is "no plan B" for hosting the games.
Due to the significantly increased number of coronavirus cases, Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga had expanded the state of emergency beyond the Tokyo area to seven other prefectures in the previous week.
There is an extensive entry ban until February 7th.
In the latest polls, a clear majority of the Japanese were in favor of canceling or rescheduling the Olympic Games.