Plans for the postponed Tokyo Olympics are becoming more uncertain by the day.
As coronavirus cases increase across Japan and in several major countries in Europe and the Americas, the authorities in Tokyo and the International Olympic Committee have begun to recognize that safe gaming may not be possible, putting risks at risk. dreams that the Olympics could serve as a global celebration of the end of the pandemic.
Instead, the IOC may be forced to cancel the Olympics for the first time since World War II. That would be a major financial blow to the Olympic organization and Japan, which has spent more than $ 12 billion building stadiums and improving its infrastructure to prepare for the Games, and billions more to delay the event for a year.
For weeks, the Japanese and Olympic authorities insisted that the Games would go ahead and that it was not possible to postpone further. Organizers have been trying to come up with plans to run the Games in a way acceptable to the Japanese public, announcing a series of security measures.
But research shows growing caution. In a survey conducted this month, the Japanese broadcaster NHK found that almost 80% of respondents believed that the Games should be postponed again or canceled altogether. In October, less than half of respondents said so. The number rose to 71 percent in December.
On Friday, Taro Kono, a member of Japan’s cabinet, broke with his government’s official line, saying the Games “could happen anyway”, according to a Reuters report.
His statements followed similar comments this week by Canadian Dick Pound, the oldest IOC member, who told the BBC that “there was no guarantee” that the Games would happen.
Organizers in Tokyo and the IOC agreed in March to postpone the Games for a year. The biennial sports festival, the largest in the world, was due to take place last July and August. The opening ceremony of the Summer Games is scheduled for July 23.
Thomas Bach, the IOC president, said that postponing the Games again is not an option and that if the event cannot take place this summer, it will not happen at all. Toshiro Muto, chief executive of the Tokyo Olympic Games Organizing Committee, reaffirmed that position this week. The IOC has already assigned the 2024 Summer Games to Paris and the 2028 Summer Games to Los Angeles.
Hopes for the Games soared as several major sporting events took place around the world without any major problems, albeit on a much smaller scale and with few or no fans present.
For now, Japan promises to move forward with preparations. Yoshiro Mori, chairman of the Tokyo organizing committee, tried to reassure team members in a speech on Tuesday.
“Spring will definitely come,” he said. “After a long night, there will definitely be a morning. Believing that, I would like to work hard until the end so that we can give joy and hope to many people ”.
This echoed the view Bach described in a New Year’s speech, when he said he saw the Tokyo Games as the pandemic’s “light at the end of the tunnel”. He praised the rapid development of vaccines for giving hope that the Games are safe.
“They will be a celebration of solidarity, the unity of humanity in all of our diversity and resilience,” said Bach.
Vaccine release has been slower than expected, however, and much of humanity will remain unvaccinated this summer. Japan does not plan to start vaccinating its citizens by the end of February, a process that will take months.
According to people who were briefed on the strategy, the IOC and Tokyo organizers are not considering vaccines in their plans for the Games, instead assuming that many of the nearly 10,000 athletes – and tens of thousands of coaches and officials traveling to the Games – you will not have received vaccination. Officials say that requiring athletes to be vaccinated is unrealistic.
It is not yet clear whether the organizers will allow spectators to watch the Games or travel from outside Japan to the Olympics. Japan has instituted a travel ban for all international visitors that is scheduled to end on February 7, but can be extended. Elite athletes are no longer exempt from this.
The Games have been a priority for Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who in September replaced Shinzo Abe, the main force behind the effort to bring the Olympics back to Tokyo for the first time since 1964.
As concerns over hosting the Games increase, officials have begun to formulate plans to face the danger of bringing so many visitors to a country that is experiencing the fastest spread of the virus since the pandemic began.
While Japan, a country with more than 125 million inhabitants, has registered just over 300,000 cases and 4,200 deaths – far less than many Western countries -, has had a record number of cases and deaths in the past few days. He reported more than 6,000 new cases on Thursday.
Seiko Hashimoto, the Japanese Olympics minister, told reporters on Tuesday that organizers were examining “comprehensive anti-infection measures, including necessary examinations and tracking management so that we can perform safe and protected Games without vaccination as a precondition ”.
Officials proposed to track and test visitors on arrival. Athletes may be subjected to various tests and their movements may be limited. They may have to leave the Olympic Village as soon as they finish competing, and they may have restrictions on joining while in Tokyo.
During a recent conference call with national Olympic committee officials, Lucia Montanarella, head of IOC Olympic Games media operations, said that athletes’ access to the press could be severely restricted. Journalists may be subject to location tracking and be prohibited from traveling anywhere in Tokyo, except for hotels, Olympic venues and major media centers.
Hisako Ueno and Makiko Inoue contributed reports.