IOC leader hopeful of safe Games with fans
SYDNEY: IOC president Thomas Bach is hopeful a safe Olympic Games will be held with fans in Tokyo next year, following encouraging news a vaccine has been found.
Encouraged by progress this week in finding a Covid19 vaccine and staging sports events in Japan, the IOC was becoming ‘‘more and more confident’’ next year’s Olympics in Tokyo can have fans in the venues.
After the 2020 Games were postponed by one year, the IOC has put faith in progress for rapid testing for Covid19 and vaccines to ensure the Games can take place starting on July 23.
News from pharmaceutical firm Pfizer on Monday of promising trials of its vaccine followed Tokyo hosting an international gymnastics competition at the weekend.
‘‘Having seen now the different (event) tests in Japan, I think we can become more and more confident that we will have a reasonable number of spectators then also in the Olympic venues,’’ Bach said.
The IOC leader said he would go to Tokyo next week for a first visit since the postponement decision was made in March, and the travelling Olympic party had begun a period of quarantine to prepare.
Bach gave a firm ‘‘no’’ in response when asked if a contingency for cancelling the Olympics would be discussed. — AAP