A view of the Olympic rings in Tokyo ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan.
Danny Lawson | PA Images | Getty Images
The Tokyo Olympics are set to formally start after a one-year hold-up, and the International Olympic Committee states organizers have actually done all they can to guarantee a safe video games as the coronavirus pandemic rages on.
“Everything that … can be done, everything that was recommended by all these experts — some of them here with us to deliver these games — we have done,” stated Christophe Dubi, the IOC’s Olympic Games executive director.
He was reacting to criticism that the company was utilizing “cheap measures” and had actually not listened to recommendations. Dubi informed CNBC’s “Capital Connection” on Friday that the IOC got aid from lots of specialists worldwide and “diligently followed up” on all the steps that were suggested.
“I think we’re doing just the right thing, and we do not consider at all that it is cheap,” he stated.
Challenges at the Olympics
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday informed organizers that they have actually done their finest, and stated the objective is not to have no Covid cases throughout the video games.
“The mark of success is making sure that any cases are identified, isolated, traced and cared for as quickly as possible, and onward transmission is interrupted,” Tedros stated.
Dubi of the IOC stated that’s what the organizers have actually done over the previous couple of days, and will continue to do.
Looking to the future, consisting of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, he stated the IOC has actually discovered how to produce safe conditions, however that the circumstance is “very fluid” and will keep developing.
“We have to be prepared for the worst and we have to plan for the worst,” he stated. He included that there are “no talks whatsoever” about a post ponement.
The reveal must go on?
Earlier today, Toshiro Muto, chief of the Tokyo Olympics arranging committee, did not eliminate canceling the occasion if Covid-19 cases increase.
But Kirsten Holmes, a teacher who concentrates on occasions and tourist at Curtin University, stated it would be “very difficult” for the organizers to cancel the video games.
For the arranging committee, it’s really hard for them to not go on.
Kirsten Holmes
Professor at Curtin University
She stated the Tokyo Games will be more logistically hard than regular video games, and there will require to be versatility. “But I think it’s very unlikely that … the whole games will be stopped,” she stated.
“We could see individual competitions within that postponed or perhaps canceled, if all of the competitors are unable to take part,” she informed CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Friday.
With no viewers or global visitors, Holmes stated the video games will be everything about the professional athletes, a few of whom might just have one opportunity to contend at this level.
“For the organizing committee, it’s very difficult for them to not go ahead, and that’s why … we will see the event proceed over the next couple of weeks and of course the Paralympic Games next month as well,” she stated.
Disclosure: CNBC moms and dad NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.
