Sydney: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has declared the Tokyo Olympics 2021 will start from July 23 next year, calling them the ‘Games that conquered COVID’, vice-president John Coates confirmed on Monday (September 7).
The Games were originally scheduled to start in July this year but were postponed due to the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic. But the committee had earlier said they wouldn’t delay the games beyond 2021.
"Now very much these will be the Games that conquered Covid, the light at the end of the tunnel."
— BBC Radio Scotland (@BBCRadioScot) September 7, 2020
The postponed Tokyo Olympic Games will go ahead next year "with or without Covid", the vice-president of the International Olympic Committee says.https://t.co/zfNR2DTjlk
“The Games were going to be their theme, the Reconstruction Games after the devastation of the tsunami,” Coates, who heads the IOC’s coordination commission for the Tokyo Games, told AFP, referring to the 2011 catastrophic earthquake and Tsunami in northeastern Japan.”Now very much these will be the Games that conquered COVID, the light at the end of the tunnel,” he added.
In July, Tokyo 2020 chief executive Toshiro Muto said it was possible that the Games be held to a ‘limited’ audience, but said they wanted to avoid the possibility of having no spectators at all. Japan has already tilled billions of dollars into the Olympics, with the delay only adding to the cost.
Coates said the IOC was doing its part with extending their hands with around $800 million extra to support the international federation, whose income isn’t happening this year and the national Olympic committees.
