Tokyo 2020 Coordination Commission chair John Coates said in an interview with French media that the Tokyo Olympics will go ahead next year regardless of the coronavirus situation.
The first of five meetings of a three-party council set-up to aid the organisation of next year’s Olympics and Paralympics was held on Friday 4 September in Tokyo.
In an interview with Agence France-Presse, International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president Coates said:
“Now very much these will be the Games that conquered COVID, the light at the end of the tunnel.” He added, “It will take place with or without COVID. The Games will start on July 23 next year.”
He also commented, “We will have athletes coming from places where the virus is under control and some where it is not.” “There’s 206 teams, so there’s a massive task being undertaken on the Japanese side.”
In an earlier interview, Mori Yoshiro, President of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, had commented that . . . the development of coronavirus vaccines and treatments would be a key factor in deciding whether to hold the Olympics and Paralympics next year, and if they are not held then, they would have to be cancelled.
The rescheduled Olympic Games are due to take place from 23 July to 8 August, 2021.
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