Tokyo 2020 organisers should be ‘making plans for a cancellation’, according to the man who ran London 2012.
With the Olympics scheduled to start in six months’ time, the host city is currently under an emergency order after a surge of coronavirus cases across Japan.
Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s Prime Minister, and the International Olympic Committee are both adamant the Games will go ahead.
But Sir Keith Mills, deputy chair of the London 2012 organising committee, said: “Sitting here and looking at the pandemic around the world, in South America, in North America, in Africa, and across Europe, it looks unlikely.”
“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.”
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Mills added: “I think they will leave it until absolutely the last minute in case the situation improves dramatically, in case the vaccinations roll out faster than we all hope.”
“It’s a tough call, I wouldn’t like to be in their shoes. It would be a tragedy for everyone. The knock-on effect of this, not just in Tokyo and Japan but right around the world, shouldn’t be underestimated. It is massive.”
Last week a Japanese cabinet minister said that the delayed Games may not go ahead – although the organising committee have insisted that the idea of postponing again has never been discussed.
“We need to do the best we can to prepare for the Games at this moment, but it could go either way,’ Taro Kono, administrative and regulatory reform minister, said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference.”
A global COVID-19 resurgence, including record infection levels in Japan, has raised fresh doubts about the Games.
The government last Wednesday expanded its state of emergency well beyond the Tokyo region.
The Japanese public’s appetite for the sporting extravaganza has waned, with 77 percent of respondents in a survey last week saying it should be canceled or postponed.
Extracts: Dailymail
