The postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics will have to be cancelled if the coronavirus pandemic isn’t brought under control by next year, the organising committee’s president said in comments published Tuesday.
The pandemic has
already forced a year-long delay of the Games—which are now scheduled to open
on July 23, 2021 — but Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori said no further
postponement was possible.
In an interview
with Japan’s Nikkan Sports daily, Mori was categorical when asked if the
Olympics could be delayed until 2022 if the pandemic remains a threat next
year, replying: “No.”
“In that case, it’s
cancelled,” Mori said.
Mori noted the
Games had been cancelled previously only during wartime, and compared the
battle against coronavirus to “fighting an invisible enemy”.
If the virus is
successfully contained, “we’ll hold the Olympics in peace next summer”, he
added. “Mankind is betting on it.”
Masa Takaya, a
Tokyo 2020 spokesman, declined to comment on a possible cancellation of the
Games, telling reporters that Mori’s remarks were based on “the chairman’s own
thoughts”.
Japanese organisers
and the International Olympic Committee, under heavy pressure from athletes and
international sports federations, agreed in March to a year-long postponement
of the Games.
Organisers and
Japanese officials have said the delayed Olympics will be a chance to showcase
the world’s triumph over the coronavirus, but questions have arisen about
whether even a year’s postponement is sufficient.
On Tuesday, the
head of Japan Medical Association warned it would be “exceedingly difficult” to
hold the Games next year if a vaccine has not been found.
“I would not say
that they should not be held, but it would be exceedingly difficult,” Yoshitake
Yokokura told reporters at a briefing.
And last week a
Japanese medical expert who has criticised the country’s response to the
coronavirus warned that he was “very pessimistic” that the postponed Olympics
can be held in 2021.
“To be honest with
you I don’t think the Olympics is likely to be held next year,” said Kentaro
Iwata, a professor of infectious diseases at Kobe University, at a briefing.
But Tokyo 2020
spokesman Takaya countered that even medical experts said it was too early to
make a judgement on such a possibility.
In the interview,
Mori also said organisers were considering holding joint opening and closing
ceremonies for the Olympics and the Paralympics in an effort to cut costs.
Under the plan, the
Paralympics would join the Olympic opening ceremony on July 23, and the Olympic
closing ceremony would be integrated into the Paralympics closing event in
September.
But Mori admitted
that Tokyo organisers had not yet obtained the consent of the IOC and their
Paralympic counterparts on that plan.
“It’s going to a
considerable cut in costs and a big message of victory against the global
crisis, but it’s not easy,” Mori said.
