The prospect of canceling the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, is “essentially off the table,” according to a member of the International Olympic Committee.
IOC member Dick Pound acknowledged that he couldn’t “guarantee anything” regarding the Olympics, which are set to take place this summer as Japan suffers a surge in COVID-19 cases, but he said that “all the indications, the fact-based indications, are that the bubble can be created and maintained.”
“None of the folks involved in the planning and the execution of the games is considering cancellation,” he said. “That’s essentially off the table.”
JAPAN SAYS US COVID-19 TRAVEL ADVISORY WON’T AFFECT OLYMPICS
Pound, the longest-serving member of the IOC, said the committee is prepared to handle the virus, with frequent testing at the location and quarantine protocols in place in the event of exposure, but he noted that “some huge event of some sort that we can’t anticipate” could still intervene in the 60 days before the games begin.
On Tuesday, the United States released an advisory discouraging travel to Japan, cautioning that there is “a very high level of COVID-19 in the country.”
Despite the warning, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has not signaled any intent to alter preparations for the games.
“We believe there is no change to the U.S. position supporting the Japanese government’s determination to achieve the games,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said during a press conference Tuesday.
COVID-19 cases have been rising in Japan since early March, when the seven-day average of new cases hit a low of 934. It reached 4,828 by Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
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After the 2020 Summer Olympic Games were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the games were rescheduled for 2021 from July 23 to Aug. 8.
The XXIV Olympic Winter Games, set to take place in Beijing next winter, have also attracted controversy, with some public figures calling for a boycott due to allegations of human rights abuses in China.
