Towards the Tokyo Olympics in July 2021?

The organizers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, postponed to 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic but without precise dates fixed so far, are studying the possibility of starting them in July, the audiovisual group NHK said on Sunday. While the Games were originally scheduled from July 24 to August 9, 2020 before their postponement announced Tuesday, the new date planned for their kick-off would be July 23, 2021, just a year later, according to the Japanese public broadcaster who cites internal sources within the organizing committee.

Spring can't hold the rope

After the postponement of the Olympic Games, the president of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach assured on Wednesday that "all options are on the table" concerning the new dates, "before or during the summer of 2021". Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike spoke on Friday of the possibility of hosting the Olympic Games at a time other than summer, when the climate in the Japanese capital is less hot and less harsh. But it is not the option which holds the cord according to the NHK.

The new programming for the Tokyo Olympics remains "a challenge," said Mr. Bach, while postponing the Olympics will require a upheaval in the already busy international sports calendar. A working group, created by the IOC and called “Here we go”, is currently working on this reprogramming in conjunction with the organizing committee and the 33 international federations present at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Discussions underway around several dates could lead to "a conclusion" within a week, Yoshiro Mori, head of the Tokyo Games organizing committee, told a TV channel on Saturday.

The organization of the Games will be "the testimony of the defeat of the virus"

The postponement of the Tokyo Games and the Paralympic Games which were to follow from August 25 to September 9, announced Tuesday due to the spread of the Covid-19, is an unprecedented decision in peacetime. On Tuesday, when the announcement of the postponement of about a year of the Games was announced, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that they would be "the testimony of the defeat of the virus" in the face of humanity.

NHK also said on Sunday that the Olympic flame would be exposed for a month at the J-Village sports complex in Fukushima, which served as a base camp for thousands of aid workers in the fight against the aftermath of the 2011 nuclear disaster. .

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