Tokyo Olympics would be cancelled if not held in 2021: IOC chief

International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Thomas Bach says the Tokyo Games must be scrapped if the occasion can’t be held subsequent yr as a result of COVID-19 disaster.

In March, the IOC and Japanese authorities took the unprecedented determination to delay the Games, which had been because of begin in July, for a yr as a result of novel coronavirus outbreak. However, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has stated the multi-sports occasion can not happen in 2021 except the virus is contained and Bach stated he understood his place.

“Quite frankly, I have some understanding for this, because you can’t forever employ 3,000 or 5,000 people in an Organising Committee,” Bach advised the BBC. “You can’t every year change the entire sports schedule worldwide of all the major federations. You can’t have the athletes being in uncertainty.”

The novel coronavirus has contaminated greater than 17,100 folks in Japan, inflicting 797 deaths. Bach stated the IOC was dedicated to holding the Games subsequent yr although it needed to be ready for varied situations together with quarantining athletes.

“What could this mean for the life in an Olympic Village?” he stated. “All these different scenarios are under consideration and this is why I’m saying it’s a mammoth task, because there are so many different options that it’s not easy to address them (now).When we have a clear view on how the world will look on July 23, 2021, then (we will) take the appropriate decisions.”