TOKYO, March 13, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Japanese government officials insisted
Friday they have no plans to alter the Olympics, including holding it without
spectators, after US President Donald Trump proposed a delay over the
coronavirus.
The fate of the 2020 Games, scheduled to open in Tokyo on July 24, has been
thrown into doubt by the outbreak of the virus, now dubbed a pandemic.
But organisers, Japanese government officials and the International Olympic
Committee have insisted preparation for the Games is on track, with no
expectations of a postponement or cancellation.
“There is no change in the government policy in that we closely cooperate
with the IOC, the organising committee, and the Tokyo metropolitan government
to steadily prepare for holding the Games as scheduled,” government spokesman
Yoshihide Suga told reporters.
He said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Trump had held a phone call to
discuss the outbreak as well as the Olympics.
“In the telephone talks with President Trump, the prime minister mentioned
our efforts toward holding the Games, and the president said he highly values
Japan’s efforts on transparency,” Suga said.
He did not say whether Trump had repeated his suggestion, made a day
earlier, that the Games might need to be delayed.
“I would say maybe they postpone it for a year,” Trump told reporters in
the Oval Office on Thursday.
“You know, I like that better than I like having empty stadiums all over
the place. I think if you cancel it, make it a year later, that’s a better
alternative than doing it with no crowd,” he said.
The suggestion was roundly dismissed by Japan’s Olympic minister Seiko
Hashimoto.
“I’m aware of President Trump’s remarks but neither the IOC nor the
organising committee is thinking about delaying or cancelling the Games at
all,” she said at a regular briefing Friday.
Asked about the possibility of scaling back the number of spectators,
Hashimoto said: “We are not thinking about that at all.”
Suga also said the government “doesn’t envisage” either a Games without
spectators or the prospect of athletes withdrawing from the event.
IOC chief Thomas Bach told German television ARD on Thursday that the body
would follow recommendations by the World Health Organization, but for now
continues to work for a “successful” Games.
He acknowledged however that cancellations of Olympic qualifiers are
starting to pose “serious problems”.