IOC President Reaffirms Commitment to Tokyo Olympics

(Bloomberg) -- International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach reaffirmed his commitment to the success of the upcoming 2020 games in Tokyo, despite concerns about the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

“Neither the word ‘cancellation' nor the word ‘postponement' was even mentioned,” Bach said at a press conference in Lausanne, Switzerland on Wednesday, referring to a meeting of the IOC's executive board that took place earlier in the day.

“I will not add fuel to the flame of speculation,” he said. Bach also said that a joint task force is meeting regularly to address any issue that may arise.

Speculation that the games could be delayed was fueled by comments from Japanese Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto, who earlier told a parliamentary committee that postponement within the calendar year was possible under terms with which Tokyo was awarded the games.

Senior IOC member Dick Pound told the Associated Press in an interview last month that late May would be the latest a decision could be made. He also said that organizers would be more likely to cancel the games than delay or move them elsewhere due to costs and logistics.

Tokyo Olympics Committee CEO Toshiro Muto and committee member Yoshiro Mori also briefed reporters in Tokyo Wednesday, saying that the body had no intention to cancel the games.

To contact the reporter on this story: Max Zimmerman in Tokyo at mzimmerman90@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Niluksi Koswanage at nkoswanage@bloomberg.net, Chua Baizhen

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