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IOC: Tokyo Games will happen despite COVID

Sep 08 (NHK) - A senior official of the International Olympic Committee said in an interview with French media that the Tokyo Olympics will go ahead next year regardless of the coronavirus situation.

The 2020 Games were postponed in March due to the global coronavirus pandemic. They are now set to open on July 23 next year.

In a phone interview with AFP, John Coates, the chair of the IOC's Coordination Commission for the 2020 Games, said "we will have athletes coming from places where the virus is under control and some where it is not."

He added, "there are 206 teams...so there's a massive task being undertaken on the Japanese side."

In the report AFP released on Monday, Coates also said "now very much these will be the Games that conquered COVID, the light at the end of the tunnel." He added, "it will take place with or without COVID. The Games will start on July 23 next year."

Officials of the IOC and the 2020 organizing committee are discussing ways to minimize costs arising from the Games' postponement.

A Japanese government task force held its first meeting earlier this month to discuss immigration control and PCR testing for athletes and officials. Coates is expected to join the discussion in an online meeting later this month.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide said on Monday that the Japanese government, along with the IOC and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, will prepare so that the Games are safe for the athletes and spectators.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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