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Coronavirus outbreak leaves Olympics with three-month window to decide if Tokyo 2020 can go ahead, says longest-serving member

A hotel waitress wearing a face mask amid the coronavirus outbreak as the Olympic rings reflect off a window: AP
A hotel waitress wearing a face mask amid the coronavirus outbreak as the Olympic rings reflect off a window: AP

The deadly coronavirus outbreak has left a three-month window to decide whether the Tokyo 2020 Olympics can go ahead or not, the longest-serving member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has warned.

Former IOC vice-president and ex-president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) Dick Pound believes that a decision over the staging of the Games in Japan must be made by the end of May at the very latest, due to the spread of coronavirus that is on the verge of being classified as a pandemic.

While the virus has spread across Europe – with Italy displaying increasing alarm over the number of reported cases – China continues to be swarmed with fresh positive tests, with 508 new cases reported on Tuesday and another 71 deaths, 68 of which came in the outbreak’s origin city of Wuhan.

It means that mainland China’s total cases of coronavirus has reached 77,658 positive tests and 2,663 deaths, while South Korea has the second-most cases in the world with 977, including 10 deaths.

With around 11,000 athletes set to descend on Japan for the Olympics and a further 4,400 for the Paralympics – on top of thousands of visiting fans – Pound believes that there is already a deadline for the Games to decide whether it will go ahead on 24 July or not.

“You could certainly go to two months out if you had to,” said Pound, who has been a member of the IOC since 1978, when speaking to the Associated Press.

“A lot of things have to start happening. You’ve got to start ramping up your security, your food, the Olympic Village, the hotels, the media folks will be in there building their studios.

“This is the new war and you have to face it. In and around that time, I’d say folks are going to have to ask: ‘Is this under sufficient control that we can be confident about going to Tokyo, or not?’”

The prospect of the Games being relocated has been raised, with London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey pushing the capital cities provisions to stage the Olympics at late notice after last hosting it eight years ago. But Pound disagrees with that prospect, and believes that “you’re probably looking at a cancellation” if Tokyo 2020 cannot go ahead.

“To move the place is difficult because there are few places in the world that could think of gearing up facilities in that short time to put something on.

“As far as we all know you’re going to be in Tokyo,” Pound added in a message to athletes. “All indications are at this stage that it will be business as usual. So keep focused on your sport and be sure that the IOC is not going to send you into a pandemic situation.”

The IOC has said that it will follow advice from the World Health Organisation, the latest of which has warned to prepare for a pandemic if coronavirus continues to spread across the globe. Pound reiterated that a decision does not need to be made until all the facts are known about the risk to the Games, because the ramifications on not staging it as planned will be huge for all of the sports involved.

“It’s a big, big, big decision and you just can’t take it until you have reliable facts on which to base it,” Pound said, adding “it doesn’t call for cancellation or postponement of the Olympics.

“You just don’t postpone something on the size and scale of the Olympics. There’s so many moving parts, so many countries and different seasons, and competitive seasons, and television seasons. You can’t just say, we’ll do it in October.”

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