The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is preparing "for a successful Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games", said the chairman of the body Thomas Bach less than five months before the opening ceremony and in the midst of a coronavirus crisis. "We will have to prepare many of the final decisions that we will have to make in June and make proposals for the IOC session" which will precede the Games, added Mr. Bach at the opening of a two-day meeting of the IOC Executive Board, Lausanne.
While the coronavirus epidemic has already claimed more than 3,000 lives worldwide and has led to the cancellation or postponement of many sporting events, Mr. Bach had already wanted to be reassuring Friday by declaring that "the IOC is totally determined to the holding of successful Olympic Games in Tokyo from July 24 to August 9. Another prominent IOC member, Canadian Dick Pound, said earlier that the IOC would not consider postponing or canceling the Tokyo Olympics until the World Health Organization (WHO) has it. invited to do so. Tuesday mid-day, the IOC then issued a statement in which it explained that the Executive Board expressed "its full commitment to the success of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics". The Olympic executive heard "a report on all the measures taken to date to deal with the coronavirus". The IOC also recalled that a working group had been set up in mid-February, comprising the IOC, the Organizing Committee for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the city of Tokyo, the Japanese government and the World Organization for Health (WHO).
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