Olympics 2020 Japan: As coronavirus wreaks havoc across the globe, Japan — that has until now held the fort against calls of postponing the Olympics 2020 due to COVID-19 outbreak — showed signs of conceding that the Tokyo Olympics 2020 will likely be postponed. Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe told the Japanese Parliament that though the country was still committed to hosting a “complete” Olympics 2020, in light of the safety of the athletes it may be inevitable that they take the decision to postpone the games. Also, Canada announced that it would not participate in the Summer Olympics, and the International Olympic Committee said the decision on the Japan Olympics would come within weeks. Australia, in the meanwhile, has told its athletes to prepare for a year’s postponement, as the Australian Olympic officials said ‘it is clear’ that the Tokyo Olympics can’t go ahead as per plans, AFP reported.
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So far, Japan and the Olympic officials had resolutely stuck to the idea that the Summer Games would go as per the plans, but criticism from world athletic bodies and athletes had become really loud in the past few days.
Earlier, Thomas Bach – the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), had written an open letter to the athletes after holding emergency talks over the situations arising due to the coronavirus outbreak. In the open letter, Bach wrote that human lives take precedence over everything else, including the staging of the Olympic Games, and added that canceling it would not ‘solve any problems’ or help anybody, so it was not on the agenda.
Canada announced it would not be participating in the Olympics and Paralympics due to the risks associated with it and said it was not solely about the athletes’ health but also about public health. It also said that the health and safety of not just the athletes but also the safety of the broader Canadian community was at risk if athletes continued training for the Olympics 2020.