The International Olympic Committee said Sunday that postponing the 2020 Olympics is one its options as the world grapples with the coronav...
The International Olympic Committee said Sunday that postponing the 2020 Olympics is one its options as the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, but that cancellation of the Tokyo showpiece was “not on the agenda”.
The IOC has faced strong pressure to push back this summer’s Tokyo Games, scheduled from July 24 to August 9, from sporting federations and athletes worried about the health risk as the global death tally due to coronavirus pandemic rose past the 13,000 mark.
On Sunday, IOC President Thomas Bach, a former Olympic fencing gold medallist, told athletes a decision on the Games would be made “within the next four weeks”.
“Human lives take precedence over everything, including the staging of the Games,” Bach wrote in a letter.
He acknowledged that this was a time of “tremendous uncertainty” which, he said “destroys hope.”
“We have, as indicated before, been thinking in different scenarios and are adapting them almost day by day,” he said.
But, he added that “there are significant improvements in Japan” and he still had hopes the Games could be held on schedule, even if that would present logistical difficulties.
“A final decision about the date of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 now would still be premature,” he said.
Bach explained that the IOC...
