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Associated Press

If John Coates was trying to stir controversy, he succeeded.
An International Olympic Committee vice-president, Coates was asked a few days ago by a Japanese reporter at an online news conference if the Tokyo Olympics would go ahead, even if a state of emergency were in force in Japan.
Coates replied: “Absolutely, yes.”
Coates said what the IOC and local organisers have been trying to persuade the Japanese public about for months: The postponed Olympics with 11,000 athletes from 200 nations and territories will open on July 23 and will be “safe and secure.”
Fifa chief Gianni Infantino backs IOC in staging Tokyo Games amid pandemic, saying football has special place in Olympics
But his defiant tone has stirred a backlash in Japan where 60-80 per cent in polls say they do not want the Olympics to open in two months in the midst of a pandemic.
Just over 12,000 deaths in Japan – good by global standards, but poor in Asia – have been attributed to Covid-19. But Tokyo and Osaka and several other areas are under a state of emergency until May 31. And it’s likely to be extended.

There is fear of new variants spreading with only a tiny percentage of Japanese vaccinated. Estimates range between 2 per cent and 4 per cent.
“Right now, more than 80 per cent of the nation’s people want the Olympics postponed or cancelled,” Japanese billionaire businessman Masayoshi Son said over the weekend. He is the founder and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp. He also owns the SoftBank Hawks baseball team.
IOC to vaccinate majority of residents at Olympic Village
“Who is forcing this to go ahead, and under what rights?” Son added.
Technically, the games belong to the International Olympic Committee and only it has the power to cancel. Of course, any move would have to be negotiated with Japanese organisers.
There is no suggestion this will happen.
Social media criticised Coates, and also went after IOC President Thomas Bach who has said repeatedly that everyone must “sacrifice” to pull off these Olympics, which have already banned fans from abroad. A decision on local fans attending – if any – will be made next month.
The IOC relies on selling television rights for 75 per cent of its income, and Japan has officially spent US$15.4 billion to prepare the games. Government audits suggest the figure is much higher. All but US$6.7 billion is public money.
The Shukan Post magazine said in its latest issue that organisers have booked all the rooms during the Olympics in at least four of Tokyo’s most expensive hotels. The magazine called the accommodation “fitting of royalty” for the IOC and others.
Tokyo organising committee president Seiko Hashimoto said on Friday the “Olympic family, IOC and international federations” would amount to 23,000 visitors.


The magazine said the IOC would pay up to US$400 per night for rooms, with local organisers making up any difference.
Many of Japan’s newspapers are among more than 60 local Olympic sponsors that have contributed more than US$3 billion to local organisers. They have been restrained in their criticism.
The Shinano Mainichi newspaper, which is not a sponsor, called for a cancellation in an editorial on Sunday.
“We are in no mood to celebrate an event filled with fear and anxiety,” the newspaper said. “The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics should be cancelled ... The government must make the decision to protect the lives and livelihood of the people.”
Organisers and the IOC say that the games will be safe because of extensive testing and building a bubble around the athletes. It says more than 80 per cent of the residents in the Olympics Village, located on Tokyo Bay, will be vaccinated.
The comments of Atsuko Saitoh, who identifies herself as a midwife and former university professor, are representative of the criticism on social media. She has run unsuccessfully for Japan’s upper house and is running in the next lower house election.
“Bach and Coates do not value the lives of the athletes, others involved or the people of the host nation. It’s tantamount to predicting terrorism to say that the games will be held under an emergency, despite the overwhelming opposition in public opinion.”


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Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Tokyo 2020: John Coates gets backlash for saying Olympics are on, regardless of coronavirus

John Coates takes questions at an official press conference on Friday. Photo: AFP

epa09217536 A visitor poses with an Olympic Ring monument at Japan Olympic Committee (JOC) headquarters for a commemorating photo in Tokyo, Japan, 21 May 2021. A three-day meeting of the IOC Coordination Commission for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad were held remotely 19-21 May 2021. The International Olympic Committee, the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Japanese Olympic Committee, the Government of Japan and other relevant parties participate in the meeting. More than 80 per cent of Japanese people think to cancel or postpone the Tokyo Olympic Games according to a opinion poll by a Japanese TV on mid-May. EPA-EFE/KIMIMASA MAYAMA

Fifa chief Gianni Infantino backs IOC in staging Tokyo Games amid pandemic, saying football has special place in Olympics

Gianni Infantino speaks at a press conference after the 71st Fifa congress held online. Photo: Fifa

Anti-Olympics group members carry banners during a protest march, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Tokyo, Japan May 17, 2021. REUTERS/Naoki Ogura

IOC President Thomas Bach addresses the 71st Fifa Congress on Friday, May 21, 2021. Photo: Fifa

Coronavirus: Japan cuts size of foreign Olympics delegations as opposition to Games grows

A state of emergency has been imposed on Tokyo and a number of other prefectures. Photo: EPA-EFE

Why Tokyo thinks the 2020 Olympics show must go on – even as Covid-19 booms

Opposition to the Tokyo Games is becoming more fervent in the host nation as protesters hold up signs while marching in front of Tokyo’s National Stadium. Photo: DPA

FILE PHOTO: Olympics - Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Test Event - Athletics - Olympic Stadium, Tokyo, Japan - May 9, 2021. Medical officers wearing protective suits are seen at the morning session of the Athletics test event. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

An ignition ceremony for the Tokyo Olympic torch relay is held at Heiwadai Athletic Stadium in Fukuoka, southwestern Japan, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. The torch relay was taken off public roads due to the coronavirus pandemic. The next week's torch relay is being pulled off the streets in Hiroshima prefecture, too, as COVID-19 cases rise in Japan. This is at least the sixth change to the relay - from rerouting to cancellation - in the last several weeks as cases surge in Japan. Organizers warned before the relay began that changes and delays were expected in the face of the pandemic. (Kyodo News via AP)

FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2020, file photo, IOC President Thomas Bach visits the National Stadium, the main venue for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games postponed until July 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, in Tokyo. Bach has canceled a trip in May 2021 to Japan because of surging cases of COVID-19 in the country, the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee said Monday, May 10, 2021 in a statement. The trip was made impossible because of a state of emergency in Tokyo and other parts of the country that has been extended until May 31. (Behrouz Mehri/Pool Photo via AP, Fo;e)

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Coates claims the postponed Olympics, with 11,000 athletes from 200 nations and territories which will open on July 23, will be ‘safe and secure’



Coates claims the postponed Olympics, with 11,000 athletes from 200 nations and territories which will open on July 23, will be ‘safe and secure’.


IOC (International Olympic Committee)

Tokyo 2020: John Coates gets backlash for saying Olympics are on, regardless of coronavirus

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Coates claims the postponed Olympics, with 11,000 athletes from 200 nations and territories which will open on July 23, will be ‘safe and secure’

Coates claims the postponed Olympics, with 11,000 athletes from 200 nations and territories which will open on July 23, will be ‘safe and secure’