Prioritize athletes for vaccine so Tokyo Games can go ahead: IOC member

Jan 08, 2021 | News On Japan

Jan 08, 2021 (Japan Today) - Athletes should be prioritized for the novel coronavirus vaccine so the beleaguered Tokyo Olympic Games can go ahead later this year, according to senior Olympics official Dick Pound.

Canadian Pound, the longest-serving member of the International Olympics Committee (IOC), told Sky News in the UK that the Games could still go ahead with mass athlete participation, but only if they were vaccinated.

"In Canada where we might have 300 or 400 athletes - to take 300 or 400 vaccines out of several million in order to have Canada represented at an international event of this stature, character and level - I don't think there would be any kind of a public outcry about that," Pound told Sky News. "It's a decision for each country to make and there will be people saying they are jumping the queue but I think that is the most realistic way of it going ahead."

During his visit to Tokyo in November, IOC President Thomas Bach said athletes would be encouraged to get the vaccine but it would not be mandatory for their participation in the Games.

Separately, Pound told the BBC the ever-changing nature of the coronavirus pandemic meant nobody could be sure whether the Games would go ahead in less than 200 days.

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