TOKYO • Japan's Minister for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, Seiko Hashimoto, yesterday sought to quell fears the Summer Games could be cancelled over the growing coronavirus outbreak, which originated in December in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
This was in response to an earlier interview from International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Dick Pound to the Associated Press (AP).
The former World Anti-Doping Agency president said the Games would more likely be cancelled than postponed or moved should the global virus threat enforce any change in schedule, with a decision necessary by May.
When asked about Pound's comments, Ms Hashimoto told the Japanese Parliament: "The IOC is preparing for the Tokyo Games as scheduled. We will continue our preparations so that the IOC can make sound decisions."
In a separate briefing with reporters, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga also said that according to the IOC, Pound's comments that any cancellation decision would be made in May was not the body's official stance.
The Canadian suggested that unless health authorities were confident the epidemic, which is officially known as Covid-19, was under "sufficient control" two months before the Games' July 24 start, both athletes and the public at large would "not be confident about going to Tokyo".
However, he also encouraged those who have qualified for the Olympics to keep their eyes on the prize for now.
"As far as we all know, you're going to be in Tokyo," he told AP.
"All indications are at this stage that it will be business as usual. So keep focused on your sport and be sure the IOC is not going to send you into a pandemic situation."
Organisers have consistently denied the Games will be postponed or even cancelled, but Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday called for sports and cultural events to be scrapped or curtailed for the next two weeks as the country battles to stem the contagion.
His call came after a Tokyo baseball team, the Yomiuri Giants, said they would play their pre-season games in an empty stadium this weekend, while Japan's main professional rugby league yesterday postponed 16 matches.
The country's top-flight football division, the J-League, on Tuesday froze all matches until March 15.
Mr Abe said in Parliament: "Taking into account that the next one to two weeks are extremely important in stopping the spread of infection, the government considers there to be a large risk of transmission at sports, cultural events and large gatherings of people."
Although the Games have never been cancelled except in the case of war (1916, 1940 and 1944), should the worst-case scenario arise, the IOC does have a US$897 million (S$1.25 billion) reserve fund to help finance global sports.
The fund was established as a backstop for smaller international sports federations, such as judo, volleyball and water polo, that rely on the organisation to balance their budgets and is part of a broader risk management strategy.
The IOC also has US$647 million in assets set aside from TV money, in case it needs to refund parts of those contracts; US$261 million to cover deficits in its main sponsorship programme; and US$447 million to help cover distribution to national Olympic bodies.
"It's a significant number and would keep all the balls in the air if we actually missed a Games," said Pound. "This is the most dangerous threat to the Olympics other than a state of actual war. This is the new war scenario."
Japan has at least 164 coronavirus cases, apart from 691 reported from the stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama, with five deaths.
BLOOMBERG, REUTERS
