While his visit to Tokyo scheduled for mid-May has been postponed, the President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach has confirmed that he will reach the Japanese capital from July 12, two weeks before the start of the event.
Nevertheless, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not want to ignore the Tokyo Olympics. While mistrust is still more important in Japan, with the population mainly opposed to the holding of the event and multiple warnings about a potential worsening of the health situation in the country, theThe opening ceremony is still scheduled for July 23. Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, even intends to be present on the spot in the home stretch. Indeed, following the postponement of a visit scheduled for May 17 and 18, the boss of the Olympic movement has let it be known that he intends to arrive in Tokyo on July 12, ie a little less than two weeks before the launch of the Olympic Games in order to take part in the “coordination operations” which will take place in the home stretch leading to the event. But the main objective of the leaders of the International Olympic Committee will be to reassure a population opposed by more than 70% to the holding of the Olympics in the current health context.
Coates promises “safe and secure” Games
Indeed, in addition to a vaccination that struggles to start, Japan faces fourth wave of coronavirus contamination. Highlighting the measures already taken in terms of health security, with the absence of foreign spectators, a large program of tests for participants and the establishment of a health bubble, IOC Vice-President John Coates confided in a letter sent to all stakeholders in the organization of the Olympic Games that the Lausanne-based institution intends to do everything to ensure that the Olympic Games are “safe and secure”. The latter will arrive in Tokyo on June 15 to oversee the final preparations. Health security which could be amplified by a drastic reduction in the number of strange participants in the Tokyo Olympics. Indeed, according to the local press, only 94,000 athletes, supervisors, official representatives and members of the media would be expected in the archipelago for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, against a figure of 200,000 people initially expected.
