Opinion | Japan holding its breath as Tokyo 2020 chiefs await IOC’s inevitable postponement of Games

As recently as two days ago, the Tokyo 2020 communications team was sending media members detailed information on the route of the upcoming Olympic torch relay. However, with staggering causalities mounting daily in Europe from Covid-19, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was forced to acknowledge on Monday that the Games may indeed need to be postponed. “If it is difficult to hold the Games in such a way, we have to decide to postpone them, giving top priority to (the health of the) athletes,” he told a parliamentary session.

Abe was also quick to add that the decision did not rest entirely with Japanese officials. “Although the IOC (International Olympic Committee) will make a final decision, we are of the same view that cancellation is not an option,” he said.

As Abe was speaking to parliament, Canada joined the growing international chorus of dissent when it became the first Olympic committee to say it will not send athletes to compete in Tokyo if the Games – set to begin on July 24 – go ahead as scheduled. It called on the IOC to postpone the Games for a year because of ongoing safety issues. “This is not solely about athlete health, it is about public health,” the committee said in a statement.

Reports have also emerged that insiders within the Tokyo organising committee have now been tasked with drafting plans to postpone the Games. According to a Reuters report quoting two unnamed sources close to the organising committee, the news was a relief to many. “Finally, we’ve been asked to make a simulation in case of a postponement,” according to the anonymous official. “We’re making alternative plans – B, C, D – and looking at different postponement time frames.”

The welcome development flies in the face of the very public obstinacy from the Japanese government and the Tokyo organising committee as well as the IOC that the Games will still take place in late July. According to another unnamed source, who is involved with the Games planning, the initial refusal to consider postponing the Games could take a terrible toll on the nation.

“It’s like a game of chicken,” the source said. “The government can cancel and even postpone the Games right now if they want, but they are waiting for the IOC to officially do it so they can save face. Until now, except for schools, sports and large entertainment facilities like Disneyland, it is still business as usual here. Bars and restaurants are not only open, but they are packed and trains and buses are still full. While local governments have tried to discourage large gatherings, they have done nothing when huge crowd show up to see the Olympic flame.”