By Nick Mulvenney
SYDNEY (Reuters) – International Olympic committee (IOC) Vice President John Coates said on Saturday that the Tokyo Olympics will go ahead in July and August because organisers have designed a “custom-made Olympic bubble” to protect athletes and the Japanese people.
Questions have been raised about the viability of the Games, already postponed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Tokyo in a state of emergency as Japan continues to struggle to contain the virus.
Coates, the IOC point man for the Games as chair of the coordination commission, told the AGM of the Australian Olympic Committee that the nation’s 484 athletes should prepare to travel north “for the experience of their lives.”
“The Tokyo Games will take place because every measure to protect the athletes and the Japanese people will be in place,” the AOC President said.
“This is not proceed at all costs for the IOC or the AOC, the rescheduled Games showed that. We have had expert advice that they can be designed safely.”
Coates said the IOC had been “learning every day” since the start of the pandemic and the “book” of health requirements for all participants unveiled last week was “a guide for a safe and successful Games.”
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
