BERLIN (GERMANY) – With the IOC firmly backing the games, any talks of cancelling it is highly unlikely, however, the games will top the agenda when the International Olympic Committee’s executive board meets on Wednesday .
With the games slated to commence in six months, the board will tackle questions over the vaccination of athletes, international visitors and the attendance of spectators, and safety regulations among other matters.
The Olympic body, which will meet remotely, nevertheless finds itself in a similar situation to March last year, when it was forced to postpone the Games by 12 months as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down sport worldwide.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and his government’s is surging forward to host the Games. Moreover, officials dismissed a media report that Tokyo had abandoned hope of holding the event this year. However, Japanese public is strongly against staging the Games amid the pandemic.
The IOC insists there is no plan B for Tokyo.
“Six months ahead of the Games, the entire Olympic movement is looking forward to the opening ceremony on July 23,” IOC President Thomas Bach said in a message to organisers on Saturday.
With much of Japan under emergency lockdown, the World Health Organization said on Monday it is providing risk management advice to the IOC and Japanese authorities over the Tokyo Olympics, but it added that its top priority is vaccinating health workers worldwide against COVID-19.