Japan's Premier Abe accepts Olympic postponement

Tokyo (AP) - Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is said to have approved media reports, according to the postponement of the Olympic Games in Tokyo by one year.

This was reported by the Japanese news agency Kyodo and the NHK broadcaster, citing an Abe phone call with IOC President Thomas Bach. The final decision must be made by the International Olympic Committee, the host city and the Japanese Olympic Committee.

A postponement of the summer games planned for the period from July 24 to August 9 has become essential due to the coronavirus pandemic and the unforeseeable further development.

The president of the organizing committee in Tokyo, Yoshiro Mori, Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike and Japan's Olympic minister Seiko Hashimoto are said to have also participated in the telephone switch. The organizing committee had previously announced an executive committee meeting next Monday.

Prime Minister Abe already stressed on Monday that a cancellation of the games was not up for debate. However, he admitted that the sporting event could not take place under the current circumstances. The IOC announced last Sunday that it would decide within four weeks whether the summer games should take place and wanted to discuss alternative scenarios. The IOC's final decision could now be made faster.

As an end to the coronavirus pandemic is currently not foreseeable, a planned move of the Tokyo games to autumn would be too great a risk. Canada, Norway and Australia had announced that they would not participate this year due to the incalculable health risks.

The German Olympic Sports Federation had advocated a one-year postponement, which is also considered the most feasible alternative. Moving to 2021 would be problematic because the Olympic Winter Games take place in February of the year and the World Cup is held in the weeks before Christmas.

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