LONDON: The International Olympic Committee will “respect and accept” Japan’s decision on whether to allow foreign spectators at the Tokyo Games this summer, President Thomas Bach told a press conference on Friday.

“This will be a decision of our Japanese partners and friends,” Bach said.

Japan plans to bar foreign spectators from the Tokyo Olympics to hold the games safely at a time when concerns are growing over the spread of highly contagious coronavirus variants. An official decision will be made by the March 25 start of the Olympic torch relay, following five-way top-level talks, including by the Japanese government, the Tokyo Games organizing committee and the IOC.

In order to avoid a case in which athletes are barred from competing due to a false-positive result in a coronavirus test, Bach said that the IOC is making efforts to introduce a system that would allow such athletes to quickly undergo a second test.

With regard to the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, Bach said there should be no boycotting over alleged human rights abuses by China in the Uighur region and Hong Kong, while noting that the IOC is addressing the issue “within our remits” and taking it “very seriously.”

JIJI Press