Tokyo Olympics could be canceled due to coronavirus outbreak, committee member says
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics could be canceled because of the coronavirus outbreak, according to the most senior member of the International Olympic Committee.
Dick Pound, a Canadian who has been on the IOC since 1978, told the Associated Press there is a window of two or three months to decide whether to cancel the summer games.
Pound, who was an swimming champion, is the longest-serving member of the IOC. He told the AP that organizers are more likely to cancel the event completely rather than postpone it or look for an alternate site.
“Folks are going to have to ask: ‘Is this under sufficient control that we can be confident about going to Tokyo or not?’” he 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.”
The viral outbreak started in China in December and has killed more than 2,700 people, mostly in China. More than 80,000 people around the world have been infected, including in the Middle East, Europe and Japan, which has reported four deaths from the virus.
The games are scheduled to begin July 24 and conclude Aug. 9. The Paralympics are scheduled to start Aug. 25.
“As far as we all know, you’re going to be in Tokyo,” Pound said, speaking directly to more than 11,000 athletes worldwide training for the games. “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.”
Pound said the IOC would rely on direction from the World Health Organization. He dismissed the idea of postponing the games as an option.
“You just don’t postpone something on the size and scale of the Olympics,” he 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.’”
This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 1:58 PM.
