According to a report by Reuters on the 22nd, two sources close to the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee revealed that the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee had begun to draft an alternative plan for the extension of the Tokyo Olympic Games. However, the current position of the Japanese government is still that the Olympic Games will not be postponed.
Xinhua News Agency, Tokyo, March 22, according to a report by Reuters on the 22nd, two sources close to the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee revealed that the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee had begun to draft an alternative plan to postpone the Tokyo Olympic Games, however, the current position of the Japanese government is still that the Olympic Games will not be postponed.
One of the sources who allegedly participated in drafting alternative plans revealed that BOCOG Tokyo was developing plans B, C and D, which included different extension schedules, and the corresponding cost estimation, and said that Tokyo Olympic organizing committee will discuss these options at the end of March, including reducing the scale of the Olympic Games or holding the Olympic Games without audience. Another source also confirmed that the Tokyo organizing committee for the Olympic Games was discussing the delay, including the delay of one to two years.
Under the influence of the new coronavirus epidemic, many major international sports events have been postponed. However, the Japanese government has always insisted that the Olympic Games will be held on time. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hopes that tourism and consumer industries will prosper, and once the Olympic games are postponed, it will exceed 3 billion US dollars (1 US dollar is about 7 yuan) japan’s domestic commercial sponsorship and the Japanese government’s preparatory expenses of about 12 billion US dollars will be hit.
In terms of time schedule, the calendar of international sports events in the summer of 2021 is already crowded, and the Qatar World Cup and Beijing Winter Olympics will be held in 2022. Japanese sponsors of Tokyo Olympic Games are also very nervous now. People familiar with the matter said that Japan Airlines, one of the sponsors, speculated in a recent internal conference call that there was a 80% chance that the Tokyo Olympics would not be held on time.
Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, initially insisted that the Tokyo Olympics would proceed as planned, but recently it seemed to have changed his tone. Bach said that the IOC was “evaluating different situations”. A report in The Daily News said that the International Olympic Committee will hold a meeting soon, because the voices of various sports organizations to postpone the Tokyo Olympic Games are getting higher and higher.