Tokyo: Japan’s Olympic minister said Tuesday the contract to hold the Games only specifies the event has to be held during 2020.
Seiko Hashimoto’s response to a question in the upper house of parliament implies the Olympics could be held later in the year and would not have to start on July 24 as planned.
The Tokyo Olympics are being threatened by a fast-spreading virus that has been blamed for 12 deaths in Japan and has shut down most sports competitions and Olympic-related events in the country.
“The IOC has the right to cancel the Games only if they are not held during 2020,” Hashimoto told parliament. “This can be interpreted to mean the games can be postponed as long as they are held during the calendar year,” the minister added.
IOC officials and Tokyo organisers have repeatedly said they expect the Olympics to open on schedule. Others have suggested the spreading virus could force cancellation, postponement or moving events to other cities.
Asked if she believed the Olympics should be still held even if the coronavirus outbreak is worse than it is now, Hashimoto said: “We are making the utmost effort so that we don’t have to face that situation.”
Meanwhile in a separate development in Lausanne, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Tuesday it was busy with preparations for a ‘successful’ Summer Games in Tokyo in less than five months and at a time when the coronavirus outbreak is widening.
IOC president Thomas Bach, speaking at the opening of the Olympic body’s two-day executive board meeting said: “We are preparing for a successful Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020.”
Many sporting events around the world have either been cancelled or postponed in the wake of the spread of the COVID-19 virus. More than 3,100 people have died and over 90,000 have been infected in more than 60 countries worldwide.
The virus has infected at least 230 people across Japan leading to 12 deaths.
“We will have to prepare many of the final decisions that we will have to take in June,” Bach said in reference to a first pre-Games executive board meeting June 15-17, also in Lausanne. “We will have to make some proposals for the session in Tokyo,” Bach added.
The IOC board is also set to meet on July 18-19 in Tokyo, with the Olympics running from July 24-August 9.
Agencies