Olympiad

Olympiad

Thomas Bach very confident that Tokyo Olympics will go on in 2021

17 December 2020 14:00 (UTC +04:00)

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach is ‘very confident’ that the Tokyo Olympics will happen in 2021, according to a recent interview with TIME magazine, APA reports.

Asked to give a “percentage possibility” that the rescheduled Olympics do take place next year despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Bach stopped short of giving 100% certainty, but said he saw no reason the Games wouldn’t go on.

“This is an unfair question because what is 100% in our world?” Bach said in the interview. “But we are very, very confident and at this moment we have no reason to believe that the Games could not take place.”

Bach visited Tokyo in November to inspect facilities. Originally schedule for the summer of 2020, the Tokyo Olympics were postponed by almost exactly one year as the world grappled with COVID-19 numbers. TIME reports that Japan has spent up to $26 billion on the Olympics according to some estimates that include about $1 billion in costs associated with the one-year delay.

Thomas Bach