IOC vice-president says Tokyo Olympics a go 'with or without COVID-19'
IOC said earlier they would not delay games again beyond 2021
The postponed Tokyo Olympic Games will be held next year "with or without COVID," the vice-president of the International Olympic Committee said Monday.
Speaking with Agence France-Presse, IOC VP John Coates said next year's games will be held regardless of whether the world has a handle on the pandemic or not.
The 2020 Tokyo Games were originally scheduled to start this July, but were pushed back to next summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The IOC had earlier said they would not delay the games again, beyond 2021.
"The Games were going to be their theme, the Reconstruction Games, after the devastation of the tsunami," Coates told AFP, referring to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
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"Now very much these will be the Games that conquered COVID, the light at the end of the tunnel."
The Olympics officially were postponed in March due to the pandemic. Currently, the Tokyo Olympics are set to start July 23, 2021 and will run until Aug. 8, 2021.
Vaccine not considered prerequisite
In July, Tokyo 2020 chief executive Toshiro Muto said it would be possible for the Games to be held with a reduced audience, according to the BBC. Every effort will be made by the committee to avoid contesting events with no spectators at all.
Muto told the BBC an adjusted opening and closing ceremonies would not only reduce the number of staff but the delegations from each country as well.
As the medical world progresses on a vaccine for COVID-19, it is not considered a prerequisite for the Games to be held.
"If a vaccine is ready, that will be a benefit, but we're not saying we can't hold the event without it," he said to the BBC.
Since the opening of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, the event has never been postponed. It has been canceled three times — each because of world war — in 1916, 1940 and 1944.
More than 11,000 athletes from over 200 countries were scheduled to take part in the 2020 Tokyo Games.
