Japanese officials denied an anonymously sourced report that the government has “privately concluded” they will have to cancel the Tokyo Olympics because of the coronavirus pandemic.
With just 151 days to go before the games are set to begin, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Manabu Sakai told reporters that the story was “categorically untrue.”
“We would like to fully deny [the report] by saying there is no truth to it,” Sakai said at a press conference, according to the Kyodo News. “Of course, we have to take into account the situation abroad, and we will decide on whether to actually hold the event at some point, but until then, the Japanese government will do what needs to be done.”
The Times of London reported Thursday that a senior member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party said the games weren’t “going to happen.”
“No one wants to be the first to say so, but the consensus is that it’s too difficult,” the source said. “Personally, I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
Meanwhile, Japanese officials at the federal and local levels and the Olympic committee have struggled to cover the nearly $3 billion in additional expenses incurred by delaying the games and introducing new coronavirus-related safety measures.
The Tokyo Olympics were supposed to be held from July 24 to Aug. 9, but were postponed in March amid the first surge of the coronavirus pandemic. The games have since been rescheduled for the summer of 2021, but in April, Tokyo 2020 President Yoshiro Mori said that event would be canceled if the coronavirus “remains an issue” ahead of the rescheduled date.
The Olympics have never been postponed in modern times. However, they were canceled in 1916, 1940, and 1944, during World War I and World War II.
Polling in Japan has been mixed on whether the postponed games should be held, as the increasing costs of delays fall mainly on the public, not to mention the prospect of inviting 11,000 Olympians, 4,350 Paralympic athletes, tens of thousands of judges, officials, media, and other VIPs, and an unknown number of guests and tourists to the island nation that has so far managed to avoid the large-scale coronavirus cases and deaths seen across the world, particularly in the United States.
Japan had long been a model for keeping the coronavirus under relative control but has since seen a surge in cases, putting Tokyo and Osaka, the country’s largest cities, under a state of emergency. However, Japan’s nearly 5,000 deaths related to COVID-19 are still dwarfed by the U.S.’s 410,000 and those of many other nations.
