Olympics Should Be Pushed to Autumn, Japanese IOC Member Says

(Bloomberg) -- The 2020 Tokyo Olympics should be rescheduled for this fall, said Morinari Watanabe, a member of the International Olympic Committee, while acknowledging that it’s also a difficult option.

Athletes who have already been qualified for the games can maintain their motivation for only so long, until that timeframe, said Watanabe, who is also the president of the International Gymnastics Federation. He spoke in an interview in Tokyo on Tuesday. But the pandemic would have to subside by then and sporting venues would have to be secured, making such a scenario unrealistic, he said.

“It’s hard to say what the best scenario would be, given the situation is changing minute by minute,” Watanabe said, adding that cancellation should be avoided. Holding the games this year would minimize the possible economic damage, he said.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to hold a call with IOC President Thomas Bach Tuesday evening, along with Olympics minister Seiko Hashimoto and Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.

After insisting for weeks that there would be no delay or cancellation of the games, scheduled to start July 24, the IOC and the Tokyo host committee have acknowledged they’re studying the options. In addition to sickening hundreds of thousands and shutting down dozens of national economies, the coronavirus epidemic has made it all but impossible for aspiring Olympians to train and, in many cases, qualify for a July event.

The IOC said on Sunday that it would make a decision about the fate of the games within four weeks, roughly mid-April. There’s no precedent for a delay: The Olympics have never been postponed before, though they were canceled outright during World Wars I and II.

There’s no rule that requires the Summer games to be held in July. The 2000 Sydney Olympics were contested in late September, as were the 1988 games in Seoul.

Postponing by a year is another popular option. After Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the international travel ban currently in place would extend to the country’s Olympic delegation, the national team told its athletes to start training for 2021.

But a 2021 games has its own headaches, including a raft of sponsorship agreements set to expire in 2020 and a conflict with the global track-and-field championships.

“The coronavirus is a war,” Watanabe said. “After we overcome this war, we want to recreate the world with a shining beacon of a bright future with the Olympics and with sports.”

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