Yoshiro Mori, the president of the Tokyo Olympic Games organizing committee, rejected this week the possibility of hosting the 2020 Games without spectators. This comes after IOC president Thomas Bach last week presented the possibility of reduced spectator counts to watch the Games.
“We shouldn’t make spectators go through hard times. Sporting events are all about the whole country empathizing,” Mori said in an interview with Kyodo News.
Mori said that Bach’s comments were made “assuming worst case scenario,” while acknowledging that options like that will have to be considered if the coronavirus pandemic is not contained.
At the time of the delay of the Tokyo Olympic Games from 2020 to 2021, the IOC said that 4.5 million tickets had already been sold for the Games. The IOC and IPC both offered refunds on tickets that were previously sold for the 2020 dates.
Mori, a former prime minister of Japan, said that the committee will hold a panel in September with national and municipal governments to make a decision on whether to cut spectators.
In the interview, Mori also stated his preference to carry out the Olympic torch relay as planned, saying that changes “would be impolite to regions that have given their cooperation.”
Mori also expressed his opinions on a reduced opening ceremonies, saying that he believes that all athletes who wish to take part in the ceremony should be allowed to do so.
This conversation takes place in the wake of surveys conducted by Japanese media last week that showed the majority of Japanese respondents not wanting their country to host the Games in 2021.
Japan, which was among the first countries in the world to put in place strict measures to try and contain the spread of the coronavirus, has confirmed 26,303 total cases and 989 deaths related to COVID-19 among a population of 126.5 million.
Over the last week, Japan has seen about 600 new cases daily, which is a little below their peak in April, but well above the lows in May and June where the country saw fewer than 50 new cases each day.
