Will the coronavirus cancel the Tokyo Olympics? More likely than some alternatives
A few weeks ago, the International Olympic Committee said there was no case for canceling or moving the 2020 Olympic Games, which are set to open in five months in Tokyo, a city attempting to fend off the spread of coronavirus in neighboring China.
Tuesday, a senior member of the IOC added to the discussion around Olympic planning by saying that organizers are more likely to cancel the event altogether than to postpone or move it, and that a decision to do so could come as late as May, according to the AP.
“You could certainly go to two months out if you had to,” Dick Pound, the IOC’s longest-serving member, said. “A lot of things have to start happening. You’ve got to start ramping up your security, your food, the Olympic Village, the hotels, the media folks will be in there building their studios.”
Pound said that if the IOC determines the Games cannot go forward as scheduled in Tokyo, “you’re probably looking at a cancellation.”
“You just don’t postpone something on the size and scale of the Olympics,” Pound said. “There’s so many moving parts, so many countries and different seasons, and competitive seasons, and television seasons. You can’t just say, `We’ll do it in October.’”
The Summer Olympics are set to open July 24. So far, that has not changed. On Feb. 14, the head of an IOC inspection team, John Coates, confirmed he was “a hundred percent confident” that the Tokyo Olympics would go on as scheduled.
Pound more recently encouraged the 15,400 Olympic and Paralympic athletes expected to participate in the Games to continue their training.
“As far as we all know, you’re going to be in Tokyo,” Pound said. “All indications are at this stage that it will be business as usual. So keep focused on your sport and be sure that the IOC is not going to send you into a pandemic situation.”
Still, as more cases are reported daily, concern over the impact of the virus in Japan grows. There are nearly 80,00 confirmed cases of coronavirus globally (715 new cases as of Monday morning), according to the World Health Organization’s most recent report. There are 144 confirmed cases in Japan that have resulted in at least one death.
The IOC and Tokyo Olympic organizers said they are consulting with the World Health Organization about the need for a contingency plan, which has not yet been necessary.
The modern Olympics, which date back to 1896, have only been canceled once. The 1940 Olympics, which were supposed to be held in Tokyo, were called off due to World War II. In 2016, the Rio Olympics in Brazil went on as scheduled despite the outbreak of the Zika virus.
But, according to Pound, expect to not see the Olympics at all before you see them at a later date.
This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 3:01 PM.
