IOC president Thomas Bach believes cancelling the upcoming Tokyo Olympics could have seen the Olympic movement "fall to pieces".
Bach insists the International Olympic Committee were correct to reschedule the Games, saying calling them off was "never an option".
Opposition has grown in Japan as a fresh wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a spoke in case numbers and a state of emergency in the country.
"Cancellation would have been the easy way for us. We could have drawn on the insurance that we had at the time and moved on to Paris 2024.
"But in fact, cancellation was never an option for us - the IOC never abandons the athletes.
"Imagine for a moment what it would have meant if the leader of the Olympic movement, the IOC, would have added to the already many doubts surrounding the Olympic Games, it would have poured fuel on to this fire.
"Our doubts could have become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Olympic Games could have fallen to pieces. That is why we had to keep these doubts to ourselves."
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