Tokyo: The postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be cancelled if the coronavirus pandemic isn’t brought under control by next year, the organising committee’s president has said.
The pandemic has already forced a year-long delay of the Games, which is now scheduled to open on July 23, 2021. However, Tokyo 2020 President Yoshiro Mori told Japan’s Nikkan Sports daily that no further postponement was possible.
When asked if the Olympics could be delayed until 2022 if the pandemic remains a threat next year, Mori categorically replied, “No. In that case, it will be cancelled.”
Mori said the Games had been cancelled previously only during wartime and compared the battle against coronavirus to “fighting an invisible enemy”, news agency AFP reported.
“If the virus is successfully contained, we’ll hold the Olympics in peace next summer… Mankind is betting on it,” he added.
Under heavy pressure from athletes and sports associations from across the world, Japanese organisers and the International Olympic Committee agreed in March to a year-long postponement of the Games.
