Tokyo Olympics to be postponed if impossible to be held in complete way, says Abe

The option of postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games set to be held in Tokyo this summer is possible if it is difficult to hold the Games as usual, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a parliamentary session on Monday.

"[The position of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)] is in line with holding [the Games] in a complete way. If it is difficult to hold [the Games] in a complete way, a decision of postponement would be unavoidable as we think the athletes’ safety is paramount," he said.

Abe noted that the International Olympic Committee takes the related decision, adding that the issue of cancellation of the Games is not on the agenda now.

On Sunday, the IOC president Thomas Bach said that the Committee would take the decision on the possibility to hold the Tokyo Games as originally scheduled amid the coronavirus pandemic within four weeks. Previously the International Olympic Committee and Japan’s authorities consistently stated that the Games would be held as scheduled.

The 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo are scheduled to be held between July 24 and August 9. The COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak that occurred in late 2019 in Central China has spread to over 150 countries and territories and has been recognized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the latest figures provided by the World Health Organization, around 300,000 individuals worldwide have got infected and 13,000 people have died.