Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, played down growing doubts about the Games but without giving a guarantee.
With the coronavirus surging in much of the world, including a spike in Japan, the president of the International Olympic Committee on Thursday sought to quell doubts about the Summer Games in Tokyo proceeding in July while not ruling out a cancellation. “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,” Bach told Kyodo News. “There is no plan B.” Bach also said that as of now, the Winter Olympics in Beijing, scheduled for February 2022, would also be held on time, Kyodo News reported. His comments were in line with his previous statements on the matter but his offering a reassurance arose after a high-ranking Japanese government official was more equivocal about the chances the Games would happen. That followed a comment by a longtime I.O.C. board member who also told a news organization he was not sure the Games, the largest sports event in the world, would go off as planned. The Tokyo Games, originally scheduled for 2020, were rescheduled to this summer because of the pandemic.
