Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to go ahead ‘whether there is a state of emergency or not’ – IOC vice-president John Coates

Coates reiterates organisers must ‘get on with our job’ despite the low public opinion and vaccine rates

Tokyo organising committee head Hashimoto confirmed reduction in ‘stakeholders’ and is unsure about spectators

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President of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organising committee, Seiko Hashimoto, at a press conference with International Olympic Committee vice-president John Coates in Tokyo, Japan in May. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 2:22pm, 22 May 2021Updated: 2:31pm, 22 May 2021

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president in charge of the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games said on Friday the event would open in just over two months even if the city and other parts of Japan were under a state of emergency because of rising Covid-19 cases.

John Coates, speaking from Australia in a virtual news conference with Tokyo organisers at the end of three days of meetings, said this would be the case even if local medical experts advised against holding the Olympics.

“The advice we have from the WHO [World Health Organization] and all other scientific and medical advice that we have is that – all the measures we have outlined, all of those measures that we are undertaking are satisfactory and will ensure a safe and secure Games in terms of health,” Coates said. “And that’s the case whether there is a state of emergency or not.”

Public opinion is Japan has been running at 60 to 80 per cent against opening the Olympics on July 23, depending on how the question is phrased. Coates suggested public opinion might improve as more Japanese get fully vaccinated. That figure is now about 2 per cent.

A protester against Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games appeals to commuters leaving offices at the Tokyo 2020 organising committee offices as a three-day meeting of the IOC Coordination Commission for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad concludes. Photo: EPA

“If it doesn’t then our position is that we have to make sure that we get on with our job,” Coates said. “And our job is to ensure these Games are safe for all the participants and all the people of Japan.”