Japan government refutes report of cancellation of Games

TOKYO >> There is no truth to a report about the possible cancellation of the Tokyo Olympics, Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Manabu Sakai, a government spokesman, told reporters on Friday, denying a newspaper report that the event would be called off.

Japan’s government has privately concluded the Tokyo Olympics will have to be canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, The Times reported, citing an unnamed senior member of the ruling coalition.

Organizers of the Tokyo Olympics said all event partners, including the Japanese government and the International Olympic Committee, were “fully focused” on hosting the Games this summer.

The government’s focus is now on securing the Games for Tokyo in the next available year, 2032, the newspaper said.

Organizers and the Japanese government have consistently vowed they will press ahead with preparations for the Games, scheduled to open July 23 after having been postponed in March last year from the original 2020 date due the to the pandemic.

In early international reactions, both the Australian and United States Olympic Committees said on Friday they remained focused on preparing for the Games as now scheduled.

“Any official communication on the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 will come from the IOC, Tokyo Organizing Committee and the Japanese government,” the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee wrote on Twitter.

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach reaffirmed his commitment to holding the Games this year in an interview with Kyodo News.

“We have at this moment, no reason whatsoever to believe that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will not open on the 23rd of July in the Olympic stadium in Tokyo,” Bach told Kyodo on Thursday.