Six months out from the start of the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics, IOC President Thomas Bach has expressed his confidence that the Games will go ahead as planned.
With a new wave of COVID-19 causing a spike in positive cases in Japan, 80% of Tokyo residents in a recent poll express their preference for the Olympics to be either postponed again or cancelled outright.
But Bach has again insisted that another delay is not an option and the International Olympic Committee is not currently considering alternative options.
“We have at this moment, no reason whatsoever to believe that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will not open on the 23rd of July,” Bach told Kyodo News.
“This is why there is no plan B and this is why we are fully committed to make these games safe and successful.”
His comments follow Tokyo 2020 organising committee CEO Toshiro Muto claiming earlier this week that there's an "unwavering" determination for the Olympics to be staged in July.
"We are not discussing cancellation," Muto told the AFP agency. "Holding the Games is our unwavering policy, and at this point in time we're not discussing anything other than that."
He added that the prospect of not having fans in Tokyo this summer is far from ideal but admits it could be the case.
"I don't know how possible that is, but basically, having no fans is not desirable. If we don't plan this thoroughly, we can't hold a safe and secure Olympics.
"The situation with coronavirus in Japan and around the world is very severe, so of course people are feeling anxious.
"It's precisely because we're in this situation that we need to remember the value of the Olympics, that humankind can coexist peacefully through sport.
"If we can hold a big event like the Tokyo Olympics alongside the coronavirus, the Tokyo model will become one of our legacies."
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