2021 Olympic organizers have expressed optimism that the Games will go on, but one former Olympic organizer has suggested the Olympics are ‘unlikely’ to happen amid the pandemic.
Sir Keith Mills was the Chief Executive for the London 2012 Olympics. In an interview with the BBC this week, Mills said he sees the 2021 Olympics as unlikely to happen with Tokyo currently under a state of emergency in the coronavirus pandemic.
“Personally, sitting here looking at the pandemic around the world, it looks unlikely I have to say,” Mills said in the BBC story. “If I was sitting in the shoes of the organising committee in Tokyo, I would be making plans for a cancellation and I’m sure they have plans for a cancellation. They’ve got another month or so before they need to make a call.”
Mills said he thinks organizers will wait “to absolutely the last minute” to make a cancellation call in the hopes that vaccine rollouts speed up and the pandemic quickly improves.
Back in December, IOC President Thomas Bach said he was “very confident” that the Olympics would happen in 2021. But in early January, Tokyo declared an official state of emergency as coronavirus cases spiked. The IOC reconfirmed its commitment and Tokyo organizers also declared their plans to continue with the Olympics as-scheduled.
But Mills’ comments come as public confidence, in some circles at least, starts to wane on holding the Olympics this summer. Last week, a member of Japan’s cabinet, Taro Kono, said the Olympics “could go either way.” And in two polls by Japanese news agencies, 80% of Japanese residents said the Olympics should be canceled or postponed again.
The Olympics were originally scheduled for the summer of 2020. They’re now scheduled to begin on July 21, 2021 and run through August 8.
NBC vs Covid…and now a word from our sponsors. That will be the deciding match-up.
Sad circumstances but my innate sense of black humour can’t help a snigger at NBC’s very own “bought and paid for” IOC honcho, Mr Gilady, finally encountering an entity that he cannot “get his own way” with.
I hope the Japanese get creative and be able to make this Olympic a special event!
One year since we were told a pandemic was a possibility, all businesses need to re-think how to continue to operate and be successful because the world has not gone back to “normal” yesterday. The only way for the host nation to get any of their investment money back is for the game to happen in some way or form.
Is it too early to suggest moving it to 2022?
The IOC has said that it’s pretty much not possible for them to postpone it beyond 2021.
There’s quite a few big events already in 2022. Not just the FINA World Champs and World Athletics Champs that were moved from 2021 but also the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Mediterranean Games.
Who cares? Continental/regional games can certainly be cancelled at this point, just like the Olympics were cancelled 5 months out.
The Olympics had no choice. The host cities for these other games aren’t just gonna cancel because the IOC asks them nicely.
America should just have an American games. Each state sends their best teams.
Punting it 12 months down the road always had an element of “on a wing and prayer”. Deferring to 2022 was probably more viable and whilst not ideal; prior to 1994 both Summer & Winter games were held in the same year.
There is no good choice available but its looking 50/50 at best.
My personal thought is that the individual sporting bodies organise a World meet for their sport, if and where possible, and it be the Olympic competition for that sport. Realistically, its unlikely that this can be managed for ALL Olympic sports but it may be the best available option for this year.
This may be optimistic, but I hope we can get this under control by July.
USA should be preparing a contingency plan to replace trials with a meet in early august. They should definitely invite the top foreign competitors to give it a little flavor. Just don’t try to hold it in Cali Newsom will ruin it.
Really? It is 6 months away. Why not require tests before/after arrival, quarantine them before and don’t let them leave Olympic village. Reduce tested spectators/press etc. Perhaps add vaccination requirements if available? Same with trials. This could eliminate some countries, but the IOC could help minimize that.
Not sure quarantining athletes for two weeks is feasible. Look at the mess of the Australian open right now.
We are going pretty well in Australia . But there is only 25 million of us on an island. And we all followed the rules pretty much.
The UK is an island too! AUS and NZ did serious, fast, hard lockdowns…and now life is basically COVID free and normal.
The statement that people use that “the UK is also an island” is apples to oranges when comparing it to Australia and NZ. People can’t drive to AUS and NZ but kept coming into the UK for a long time by bus, car and truck during the early days of the pandemic.
It was all about borders. Australians accepted strict border controls both external & internal including entry & exit restrictions not just for foreigners but themselves.