The Tokyo Olympic Games are coming up in just under six months. The organizers reject speculations that the games could be canceled or postponed due to the new corona virus in China. The headache is still worrying about the virus.
Tokyo (dpa) - Despite the spread of the novel corona virus, Japan plans to host the Summer Olympics as planned.
The head of the Japanese Olympic Committee, Yoshiro Mori, confirmed at a meeting with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Tokyo that the planning for the games would not be affected by the new lung disease Covid-19. "I want to make it clear once again that canceling or postponing the Tokyo games was not being considered," said Mori at the start of a two-day preparatory meeting with the IOC. They will work with the Japanese government and "calmly" deal with any problems caused by the new virus.
The games scheduled for July 24 to August 9 are just under six months away. With every day that the number of infected people increases, the concern about the Olympics grows. Some Olympic qualification events have already been canceled or postponed. So the tournament in women's football was moved from Nanjing / China to Sydney. The Chinese handball players canceled their participation in the qualification tournament.
"I am seriously concerned that the spread of the infectious disease could put a damper on games," said organization chief Toshiro Muto recently. Saburo Kawabuchi, mayor of the athletes' village, which is said to house 11,000 Olympians, was also concerned. "I really hope that the infectious disease will somehow subside so that we can run the Olympic and Paralympic Games smoothly." However, the IOC and Mori remain undeterred.
IOC Coordinating Commission chairman John Coates said in Tokyo on Thursday that the new Sars-CoV-2 virus was an "unexpected" problem. However, those responsible for the games would later show that the necessary precautions will be taken for the athletes and visitors to Japan, Coates was quoted by the Japanese news agency Kyodo. Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on the country's economy to significantly boost the production of protective masks.
So far, more than 240 cases of the pathogen have been confirmed in Japan. 218 of the victims are passengers and crew members of the cruise ship "Diamond Princess", which was quarantined in front of Yokohama.
In the meantime, the new lung disease also causes faults in the rest of the sports world. The World Rugby Sevens Series in Hong Kong and Singapore were postponed from April to October, the organizers announced on Thursday. The SportAccord conference, which has close ties to the Olympic movement, will not take place in Beijing in April as planned. In addition, the sport climbers canceled their World Cup scheduled for April in Wujiang and Chongqing.