Tokyo 2020: prioritise athletes for vaccine so Olympic Games can go ahead, say IOC’s Dick Pound

With Tokyo in a state of emergency, the chances of holding the Games in July are again in question

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Tokyo Games organisers passed the 200-day milestone last week. Photo: AP

Published: 12:44pm, 8 Jan 2021Updated: 12:44pm, 8 Jan 2021

Athletes should be prioritised for the novel coronavirus vaccine so the beleaguered Tokyo Games can go ahead later this year, according to senior Olympics official Dick Pound.

Canadian Pound, the longest-serving member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), told Sky News in the UK that the Games could still go ahead with mass athlete participation, but only if they were vaccinated.

“In Canada where we might have 300 or 400 athletes – to take 300 or 400 vaccines out of several million in order to have Canada represented at an international event of this stature, character and level – I don’t think there would be any kind of a public outcry about that,” Pound told Sky News.

“It’s a decision for each country to make and there will be people saying they are jumping the queue but I think that is the most realistic way of it going ahead.”

During his visit to Tokyo in November, IOC president Thomas Bach said athletes would be encouraged to get the vaccine but it would not be mandatory for their participation in the Games.

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