Sun, Jun 14, 2020 page11

• Tokyo Olympics 2020: Tokyo governor says Olympics will be virus safe

  • AFP, TOKYO
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  Next year’s Olympics will be safe, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has said, pledging a “120 percent effort” to ensure the first-ever postponed Games can go ahead.

  Koike — who on Friday announced that she would stand for re-election next month — said that the city was committed to holding the event as a “symbol of human triumph” over the virus, but added that it would be downsized.

  “I will make a 120 percent effort,” Koike said in an interview, but declined to say how confident she was that the sporting extravaganza would open as planned.

  

  Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike poses for a photograph at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building on Friday.

  Photo: AFP

  Tokyo 2020 became the first Olympics ever postponed in peacetime earlier this year as the coronavirus marched around the globe, upending lives and forcing the cancelation of sporting and cultural events.

  They are now scheduled to begin on July 23 next year — although they will still be known as the 2020 Games — but medical experts have raised concerns that the delay will not be long enough to contain the virus and hold the event safely.

  Officials in Japan and from the International Olympic Committee have warned that it would not be possible to postpone again.

  Koike said she was continuing to “make all-out efforts in the battle against the virus to put on a Games that is full of hope.”

  She pledged an event “that is safe and secure for athletes and fans from abroad, as well as for residents of Tokyo and Japan.”

  Officials point to the comparatively low death rate as evidence that a recently lifted state of emergency — imposed in response to rising cases in April — and a public awareness campaign on social distancing have worked.

  “Tokyo residents know that the Summer Games next year in 2021 is not possible unless the impact of coronavirus calms down,” Koike said. “That was among the things that pushed them to make these efforts.”

  Japanese and Olympic officials have repeatedly said that it is too early to tell how the pandemic will have evolved by the run-up to the rescheduled Games.

  For now, Koike said “simplification and cost reduction” are the main planks of discussions, along with potential safety measures.

  “What kind of [virus] tests and how? How much social distancing is necessary? These will depend on future discussions,” she said.

  The final price tag of postponing the Games remains unclear and the delay has also rattled sponsors.

  A survey this week showed that two-thirds of Tokyo 2020’s corporate sponsors are on the fence about continuing their backing.

  However, Koike insisted that the event would still be an “excellent opportunity” for sponsors and said she would be asking for their “continued support.”
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