The chairman of the organizing committee of the Olympic Games rules out the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics. In Japan, resistance to the event is growing, which was postponed by 2020 due to the corona pandemic.
Leading doctors, among others, wonder to what extent the Games can be safely organized. At the same time, surveys show that a large part of the Japanese population is now also in favour of postponement or even cancellation.
“We cannot postpone the Games again,” Seiko Hashimoto, former speed skater and president of the local organization, told Nikkan Sports newspaper. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is likely to call early elections after the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the newspaper Asahi reported, concluding that he too is determined to go ahead with the event.
Cities where foreign athletes plan to set up their training camp for the Games have expressed concern that visitors are bringing variants of the coronavirus, affecting medical supplies and hospital occupancy supplies.
Ota City council received numerous complaints when it became known that hotel staff receiving Australian athletes had been given priority in vaccination. The city is home to the Australian softball team, the first national team to report to Japan this week.
Kurume City meanwhile announced that a training camp of Kenyan athletes in that city could not take place.
Japan is struggling with the fourth wave of infections, eight weeks before the Games are due to start on July 23. The vaccination program is only slowly getting started, while the state of emergency has been extended until June 20 in ten regions, including Tokyo.
Shigeru Omi, one of Japan’s leading medics, told a parliamentary committee that it is “not normal” to allow the Games to go ahead under current circumstances.