Ignore stories predicting cancellation (for the second time) of the Tokyo Olympics this summer due to the pandemic.
That’s the advice of Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, saying “we will not add fuel to this type of speculation.” In the past, insisting the Games will happen; he has been firm about stating that there is no Plan B, even though a poll showed that 80 percent of the Japanese people want to see the Olympics cancelled or postponed.
During a press conference last week following a meeting of the IOC executive board, Bach pointed out that more than 7,000 athletic events have taken place over the autumn and winter, with 175,000 people tested and only a 0.18 percent positive rate .
“This is why we are so confident,” he said, while noting that if the IOC thought the Games couldn’t be safe, “we would not go for it.” And they are going for it.
IOC President Thomas Bach
He said the Covid vaccine could not be considered a silver bullet and athletes will not be required to get their shots (but are encouraged to do so, as long as they don’t cut in line ahead of the vulnerable).
Instead, the IOC is counting on such counter-measures for safety as reducing the number of athletes lodged in the Olympic village at the same time. Other concepts are outlined in a playbook that will detail housing, transportation and similar matters. It is coming out next month and is first in a series.
IOC Vice President John Coates said in an interview with Sky News that athletes must stay in the Olympic Village when they are not at their venues, and cannot go downtown. They will not be quarantined on arrival, but would be subject to testing for COVID at the Games every four days. They also will have to follow a set of rules before traveling to Japan, when they must quarantine, and on arriving in Tokyo.
A decision on whether spectators can attend will have to be made by March or April, though no one knows how many people could be in the stands at this point. Doubtless there will be social distancing in the stadiums, which means less tickets available. But maybe it will go the way it did for the Super Bowl in Tampa, where the least expensive tickets are running $10,250 (per ticket, for a 2 pack of tickets, going up 10 percent in a week). That stadium is using only 22 percent of its seats for the big game.
Tickets aren’t the IOC’s first concern, however. Don’t forget, the Olympics have TV contracts and sponsors to pay the way. The priorities for IOC are the field of play and safe competition, according to Bach.
“Everything else has to have second priority.”