NEW YORK: A senior official of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee has suggested an option of delaying the 2020 Games by one or two years, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on Tuesday.

If the Tokyo Games cannot be held this summer due to the new coronavirus outbreak, "the most realistic option" would be to delay them by one or two years, Haruyuki Takahashi, an executive board member of the Tokyo Games organizing committee, said in an interview with the business daily.

Noting that the financial damage from canceling the games or holding them without spectators would be too great, Takahashi said a delay shorter than a year would be difficult because the schedule would conflict with other major professional sports events such as baseball and football in the United States and soccer in Europe.

Takahashi said a two-year delay would be easiest to arrange as sports schedules for next year have already been mostly decided.

He also said that ahead of a meeting of the organizing committee later this month, junior staff members are examining the impact of a possible rescheduling of the Tokyo Games, according to the paper.

JIJI Press