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This may not be news that authorities are fighting to announce, but a Japanese government source recently told a fellow media that “Personally, I don’t think it’s (the Tokyo Olympics) going to happen.”
According to a report, the Japanese government has decided that the Tokyo Olympic, after being postponed last year, will not carry on this summer.
Senior cabinet members have privately agreed that the Tokyo Games has reached its end with the coronavirus pandemic and are looking at the next available slot in 2032.
Meanwhile, The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) president Thomas Bach shared that, “We have at this moment, no reason whatsoever to believe that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will not open on the 23rd of July in the Olympic stadium in Tokyo.”
Despite the denial of the Games being cancelled, the Japanese public remains in doubt as Tokyo is facing some of its highest infection rates of the pandemic.
A recent spike in cases has forced Japan to close their borders and declare a state of emergency in Tokyo and other cities.
Tokyo has recorded more than a thousand new cases for nine straight in a row and hit their highest in January with 2,400 infections.
Still, IOC and the Japanese government are determined to go ahead with the Games from July 23 to August 8.
But with another postponement being out of the picture, cancelling the Games altogether seems to be in favour.
Especially as polls are showing that 80 per cent of the Japanese population are against the Olympics taking place this summer.
The Games may be seen as a chance to deliver ‘hop and courage’ during this global pandemic, but many are in fears that the influx of travellers will cause a super spreader within Japan.
And while some lawmakers in the parliament called for it to be postponed or cancelled, the Tokyo Medical Association called for the event to be held behind closed doors.
‘They must give up the idea of having the festivity of the century by inviting people from various countries,’ its chairman Haruo Ozaki told fellow media. ‘The feasibility of holding it with no spectators should be considered.’ - Agencies, January 22, 2021
