Tokyo 2021 Summer Olympics Reportedly in Question Due to COVID-19 Concerns | Launderer report

The Japanese government has “privately concluded “that the 2021 Olympics will have to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by Richard Lloyd Parry of The temperature.

“Nobody wants to be the first to say it, but the consensus is that it’s too difficult,” a source told Lloyd Parry. “Personally, I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Japan is now trying to find a “face-saving way of announcing the cancellation that leaves open the possibility of Tokyo playing the host at a later date. “

the The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee issued the following statement on Thursday:

Publicly and officially, the The International Olympic Committee and Japanese Olympic organizers have been determined to assert that the Games will take place, according to the Associated press. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga called the 2021 Games “proof of human victory against the coronavirus”.

But senior IOC member Dick Pound said he “I cannot be sure that “the Games will take place because”the elephant going through the room would be the push of the virus. ” Japanese Minister Taro Kono, a member of Suga’s cabinet, added that “anything is possible “and attempts to hold the Games” could go both ways. “

Keith Mills, Assistant chairman of the London 2012 Olympics organizing committee, told the BBC (h / t the AP) on Tuesday that he believes cancellation plans have likely already been concocted.

“But I think they will leave it until the last minute in case the situation improves dramatically, in case the vaccinations go faster than we all hope,” he said. . “It’s a tough call, I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes.”

President of the IOC Thomas Bach has sought to quell some of the rhetoric that the Games could be canceled.

“We have, for the moment, no reason to believe that the Tokyo Olympic Games will not open on July 23 at the Olympic stadium in Tokyo,” he said. told Kyodo News (h / t Victor Mather of New York Times). “There is no plan B.”

He added that the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 were still on track to go as planned.

The Tokyo Games were originally scheduled for summer 2020 but postponed due to the coronavirus. With uncertainties over the state of the pandemic in July and question marks over the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine, this year’s event remains in the air.

If the Summer Olympics are canceled, it would be for the first time since WWII and could cost the IOC more $ 1 billion in TV revenue, per Mather. The IOC is a non-profit organization, but “90% of Games revenues go directly to sport and athlete development. “