Japan’s government and Olympic officials are slowly admitting that the upcoming Tokyo Olympiad, slated for later this summer, may not happen due to coronavirus.
The Summer Olympics are currently one of the few sporting events on the international sports calendar that hasn’t been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but as the global impact of the virus becomes more serious and containing its spread becomes essential, officials are finally admitting that the best course of action may be to postpone the games.
On Monday, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe finally admitted publicly that postponing the Olympiad may be in the cards. According to NPR, Abe gave a speech that reacted to news the International Olympic Committee is finally exploring alternative “scenario planning” for the games, which essentially means playing them at a different date in the future.
“This decision by IOC is in line with what I have said, about holding the games in their entirety,” he told lawmakers. “In case this becomes difficult, in order to make the athletes our top priority, we may have no choice but to decide to postpone the Games.”
Hinting at the dilemma, organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto said mulling postponement or any other alternative scenario is “not easy.”
Saying Japan would have “no choice” in postponing is a swift change from the long-held belief that delaying the games would be, in the words of several officials, unthinkable. But it comes on the heels of Canada’s Olympic committee declaring its athletes would not compete in the Olympics were it held as scheduled. The US swimming federation has also asked the games be moved for the safety of its athletes.
In this case it seems like it’s only a matter of time that the games are moved in some way, though it’s taken a long time for officials to publicly acknowledge that may be the case.
[via NPR]
