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International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach at a news conference after the executive board meeting. /VCG
As the International Olympic Committee (IOC) started a crucial executive board meeting on Tuesday to discuss the threat of COVID-19 to the Tokyo Olympics, president Thomas Bach pledged success – but not all authorities are quite so sure the Games will go ahead as planned.
Explaining that the IOC had been consulting with a "task force" including the World Health Organization (WHO), the host city of Tokyo and the Japanese government, Bach said he would like to "encourage all the athletes to continue their preparations for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 with great confidence and with full steam."
However, in a later briefing, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus maintained a notably more careful approach to the viability of staging the Olympics in July as planned: "I think deciding now would be too early, it would be good to monitor the situation."
Earlier, Japan's Olympics minister had mentioned the contractual possibility of holding the Games later in the calendar year – but Bach remained upbeat about them starting on time.
Task force
"Following a very comprehensive discussion today in the Executive Court, the IOC remains fully committed to the success of the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020," Bach told the waiting media.
"There is a task force, in place since mid-February, and following the regular information from this task force – which consists of the IOC, the organizing committee, the host city of Tokyo, the government of Japan and, in particular, the World Health Organization – we remain very confident with regard to the success of these Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020."
He added: "I would like to thank everybody in this task force for the very constructive way of cooperation. Of course, we will continue this regular consultation with this joint task force to be able to address any development which may occur."
Bach did not directly address the comments made earlier the same day by Seiko Hashimoto, Japan's Olympics minister, when she referred to the contracts for the Games.
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"The contract calls for the Games to be held within 2020. That could be interpreted as allowing a postponement," Hashimoto said in response to a lawmaker's question in parliament.
According to the contract signed by Tokyo and the IOC, "The IOC holds the right to cancel the Games by deactivating the contract if… the Games are not held in 2020."
"This can be interpreted to mean the games can be postponed as long as they are held during the calendar year," said Hashimoto.
She added that May looked like an "important benchmark" for deciding whether the Games will go ahead as scheduled.
"An IOC member has said the end of May is the final deadline for making the decision," she said, referring to remarks by senior IOC member Dick Pound.
Despite concerns over possible health risks to spectators and participants, both the Olympic body and Japan are unwilling to publicly discuss any other option, such as cancellation or postponement, knowing this would throw the Games into confusion.
Asked if she believed the Olympics should still be held even if the coronavirus outbreak is worse than it is now, Hashimoto said: "We are making the utmost effort so that we don't have to face that situation."
Source(s): Reuters
