• Tokyo remains the best prepared Olympic city ever and at this moment: IOC chief said

LAUSANNE: Newly re-elected International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach promised Wednesday to deliver a “safe, secure” Tokyo Olympics this year, saying that a decision on allowing foreign spectators would be taken “as early as possible”.

Bach said it was no longer a question of whether the Olympics, which were postponed last year as the coronavirus spread around the globe, would take place but in what conditions they will be held.

“Tokyo remains the best prepared Olympic city ever and at this moment, we have no reason to doubt that the opening ceremony will take place on July 23,” Bach said.

“The question is not whether, the question is how these Olympic Games will take place.

“The IOC is working at full speed together with our Japanese partners and friends to make the postponed Olympic Games a safe manifestation of peace, solidarity and resilience of humankind in overcoming the pandemic.”

Bach said his aim was to create “a safe, secure and fair environment for all the athletes”.

The local Japanese organizers are due to announce by the end of the month whether foreign spectators will be allowed to attend the Games, although it is widely reported that they will be barred due to Covid-19 concerns.

“We’re in permanent consultation with the Japanese government and organizing committee,” Bach said.

“We have one agreement on one principle and that is to take a decision regarding foreign spectators as early as possible” in a bid to help manage ticketing, travel and to guarantee the “security and safety of everyone”.

Bach added that a decision on spectator capacity at the 34 Olympic venues, mostly in and around Tokyo but also elsewhere in Japan, would be taken as late as possible, up until just a month before the July 23-August 8 Games.

“We need to leave the door open in order to take into account all developments that take place, even in May or June,” he said.

AFP