Tokyo Games will go ahead, says IOC’S Coates

International Olympic committee (IOC) Vice President John Coates said on Saturday that the Tokyo Olympics will go ahead in July and August because organisers have designed a “custom-made Olympic bubble” to protect athletes and the Japanese people. Coates, the IOC point man for the Games as chair of the coordination commission, told the AGM of the Australian Olympic Committee that the nation’s 484 athletes should prepare to travel north for the experience of their lives. “The Tokyo Games will take place because every measure to protect the athletes and the Japanese people will be in place,” the AOC President said. “We have had expert advice that they can be designed safely.” Coates said the IOC had been “learning every day” since the start of the pandemic. —