The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach has admitted that the Tokyo Olympic Games, postponed for a year in the face of the Covid-19 epidemic, will be canceled if they are not held in 2021.
"You can't eternally employ 3,000 or 5,000 people on the organizing committee , " continued Thomas Bach, who underlined the "mammoth work" represented by this postponement and the reorganization into stunts of the major competitions that ensues. “We cannot change the world sports calendar for all the main federations. We cannot leave the athletes in the dark. ”
While reiterating "the clear commitment that the Games will be held next July" , Thomas Bach admitted that we must "be ready for different scenarios". Measures of "quarantine for athletes, for part of the athletes, for other participants" cannot be excluded.
On March 24, the IOC announced the postponement by one year of the Tokyo Olympics originally scheduled from July 24 to August 9, 2020, a first for the modern era Olympics in peacetime. The Tokyo Games are now rescheduled from July 23 to August 8, 2021.