By Akinwale Kasali
Less than five months to the commencement of the 2020 Olympics Games in Tokyo, Japan, the possibility of postponing or cancelling the World Showpiece is in the offing, following the spread of the Coronavirus epidemic that has taken the world by storm, especially in the South Eastern Asia.
There is great concern which is growing over the impact of the coronavirus on the Olympic Games after new cases in Japan were confirmed and the domestic top-flight football competition was called off until next month.
A senior member of the International Olympic Committee, IOC, Dick Pound, said outright cancellation of the Games, rather than postponement or relocation, would be likely if the disease proved too dangerous for the event – which is scheduled to start on 24 July – to go ahead.
Pound, a former Canadian swimming champion who has been on the IOC since 1978, estimated there is a three-month window – perhaps a two-month – to decide the fate of the Tokyo Games, meaning a decision could be put off until late May.
Pound revealed that In and around the scheduled time, people will ask questions whether there is sufficient control that we can be confident about going to Tokyo or not. He spoke to the Associated Press.
As the Games draw near, he said, “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, if the IOC decides the games cannot go forward as scheduled in Tokyo, “you’re probably looking at a cancellation”, he said.
Three new coronavirus cases were confirmed on Tuesday among users of the same gym in Chiba, the city, just north of Tokyo. Chiba is scheduled to host Olympic taekwondo, fencing, wrestling and surfing, as well as four Paralympic events.
Sporting events across Japan have already been called off due to the outbreak. All Japanese Football League matches, popularly called the J-League have been postponed until 15 March, the biggest disruption of the professional game in Japan since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The South African Under-23 team has also pulled out of a friendly due to be played against Japan in Kyoto on Thursday, while the training of 80,000 Olympic volunteers, which was due to begin on 22 February, has been delayed for at least two months.
Tokyo marathon has ,also, cancelled the race over coronavirus scare.
In addition to professional sport, numerous local competitions, inter-school matches and martial arts tournaments are being postponed or axed.
This Sunday’s Tokyo Marathon will feature only a few hundred elite athletes, with nearly 38,000 entrants told they cannot run.
The viral outbreak that began in China two months ago has infected more than 80,000 people globally and killed over 2,700, the vast majority of them in China.
But the virus has gained a foothold in South Korea, the Middle East and Europe, raising fears of a pandemic. Japan itself has reported four deaths.
Some of Japan’s biggest corporations, including Sony, Takeda Pharmaceuticals and telecoms giant NTT, are telling staff to work from home.
Many were planning to introduce telework during the Olympics to ease the pressure on public transportation, but are now doing so to avoid the risk of contamination on Tokyo’s crowded trains.
The Tokyo Olympic organising committee puts the official budget for the Games at 1.35 Trillion Yen ($12.2bn), but the Board of Audit of Japan estimates the true cost, including spending by local authorities and the central government, is more than double that figure.
