COVID-19: 'Cancellation of event out of question', say Tokyo Olympics organizers
Tokyo/Moscow/Sputnik: The cancellation of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan due to the COVID-19 pandemic is out of question, Organizing Committee CEO Toshiro Muto said on Monday, adding that different scenarios will be studied.
"Full cancellation is absolutely out of question," Muto said at a press conference, aired by NHK broadcaster.
"No decision has been made so far, different scenarios will be studied," he added.
However, seventy percent of US athletes favor the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in light of the coronavirus outbreak, according to a survey by the country's Olympic and Paralympic Committee Athletes Advisory Council, obtained by USA Today.
The poll was held at a virtual town hall on Saturday after USA Swimming and USA Track & Field called for an Olympics delay.
According to the newspaper, 70 percent of the 125 athletes participating in the hall backed postponement, while 23 percent others said that it would depend on the consequences.
When asked whether they would support the Olympics on going as scheduled, 41 percent replied in the negative. Thirty-four percent noted that the matter was complex and they needed more information.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said on Sunday that the final decision on a possible postponement of the summer Olympics would be made in four weeks.
Following the announcement, Canada's Olympic Committee and Paralympic Committee, as well as the Australian Olympic Committee, stated that they would not attend the Games in the summer and called for a one-year postponement.
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