TOKYO • Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, often floated as a future Japanese premier, yesterday insisted that the Olympics had to go ahead next year as a symbol of world unity in overcoming the coronavirus pandemic, even as her city grapples with stubborn spikes in cases.
Japan has not seen an explosive outbreak similar to other places like the Americas and Europe, but a recent increase in cases in Tokyo, which accounts for over a third of its more than 21,000 infected, has fanned worries about a second wave of infections.
The Olympics were initially scheduled to start later this month, but were postponed for the first time until next July because of the virus.
As part of her re-election bid before winning her second term as governor on July 5, Ms Koike pledged to garner public support, although the majority of respondents polled in a recent survey by Japan News Network (JNN) felt that the Games "cannot be held" next year.
Given the spiralling costs of postponing the Games - the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will spend up to US$650 million (S$903 million) while billions more will largely be borne by Japanese taxpayers - the organisers are looking to simplify the multi-sport quadrennial event.
Proposals include reducing resources, and toning down the opening and closing ceremonies.
But while Tokyo 2020 is unlikely to have the same grandeur as other Games, that does not mean it will be diminished in any form.
Ms Koike, a media-savvy former TV announcer who speaks English and Arabic, feels next year's Olympics will bring people closer, even as the pandemic shows no signs of abating.
"I want to host them as a symbol of the world coming together to overcome this tough situation and of strengthened bonds among humankind," she told Reuters in an online interview.
She, however, declined to specify a deadline for deciding if the Games could go ahead, given that the Covid-19 disease will, by all accounts, still be around next year.
Despite Ms Koike and the Tokyo 2020 organisers' bullish attitude over the event, Japanese medical experts believe that cancellation remains a real possibility.
"Infection will flare up if we push ahead with the Olympics and hold them," Daiichi Morii, a doctor at Osaka University Hospital's infection control team, said.
"There is no doubt about it. The virus is barely under control as we are putting a halt on the inflow of people from overseas.
"With events like the Olympics, the virus will come in for sure and the number of infections will shoot up inevitably."
Atsuo Hamada, a professor at Tokyo Medical University Hospital, also told Reuters that even if a vaccine was developed in time, it is "near impossible for it to go around the world".
IOC president Thomas Bach has vowed to give the Tokyo 2020 organisers and the city's leader his full support to overcome the hurdles.
Revealing to French newspaper L'Equipe that it was a tougher decision to delay the Games rather than to scrap it, he said: "Cancelling due to force majeure would have been easier for the IOC and we would have had the insurance revenue.
"But we are there to organise the Games, not to cancel them. We have to see if we can make improvements to the masterplan, make efforts on the services we offer to participants, on transport.
"The crisis has shown that we need more solidarity in sport but also in society."
REUTERS
