Olympics-'We cannot postpone again,' Tokyo 2020 boss says of COVID gloom (updated)
03/06/2021 06:22
* Health worries plague Games due to start on July 23
* Japanese organiser rules out another suspension
* Faster vaccines for staff attending foreign athletes irk
locals
(Adds quotes, details, background)
By Rocky Swift
TOKYO, June 3 (Reuters) - The head of Japan's Olympics
organising committee ruled out on Thursday another suspension of
the Games, despite deep disquiet at the prospect of thousands of
athletes and officials arriving during a fourth wave of COVID-19
infections.
Already postponed from last year at the cost of an extra
$3.5 billion, a scaled-down version of the Games, with no
foreign spectators, is set to start on July 23.
But with a slow vaccine rollout, Tokyo and nine other
regions under a state of emergency, and rising numbers of severe
coronavirus cases, most Japanese oppose hosting the Olympics.
Most of the capital's city council, the Tokyo Metropolitan
Assembly, agree, the Tokyo Shimbun paper reported on Thursday.
Illustrating the public anxiety, residents in one training
venue, Ota City, were furious over a decision to give
preferential vaccinations to staff attending to visiting
Australian softball players, media also said.
However, organising committee president Seiko Hashimoto
countered the gloom, telling the Nikkan Sports newspaper: "We
cannot postpone again."
Hashimoto, who competed in seven summer and winter Olympics
as a cyclist and skater, also told the BBC that while Japanese
were understandably worried, they should be reassured that a
"bubble situation" was being carefully constructed.
"I believe that the possibility of these Games going on is
100% that we will do this," she added. "One thing the organising
committee commits and promises to all the athletes out there is
that we will defend and protect their health."
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga also appeared confident of
pulling off a successful Olympics and Paralympics as he plans a
snap vote afterwards, the Asahi newspaper said. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2NK31H
NO HIGH-FIVES
Authorities have not decided whether Japanese spectators
will be allowed to attend Olympics events. There are fears that
shouting, hugging and high-fiving could promote contagion.
In the latest upsets in the run-up to the Olympics, Kurume
City pulled out of hosting Kenya's training camp, while a player
on Ghana's Under-24 team tested positive after arriving for a
friendly match. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2NK17Z urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2NL122
Taiwan's baseball team, which is ranked fourth in the world,
pulled out of the final qualifying tournament for the Olympics
as it could not find anywhere safe to practice at home and was
worried about health risks at the event in Mexico. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2NL08M
Even so, Taiwan still hopes its athletes will have a chance
to compete, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told reporters, saying
efforts by Japan and international Olympic officials to put on
the event were highly appreciated.
Though avoiding the rates of some other nations, serious
cases of COVID-19 are rising in Japan, where the infection tally
stands at nearly 750,000, with more than 13,000 deaths.
The nation's most senior medical adviser said on Thursday
that public health guidance, including his, was not reaching the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) in charge of the event.
"We are now considering where we should give our advice,"
Shigeru Omi told lawmakers. "If they want to hold (the Games),
it's our job to tell them what the risks are."
Though Olympic advertisements are sprinkled around Tokyo, it
is a far cry from the usual glitz and buzz, with many sponsors
unsure how to proceed with events. Thousands of volunteers have
quit also, public broadcaster NHK said this week.
Hashimoto acknowledged the sadness of having no outside
spectators at an event that is normally an enormous global
party.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that they (athletes)
can compete in the Games," she said in the BBC interview.
"To not be able to have family members and friends who have
supported them all along must be a very painful thing and that
has caused me pain too."
(Reporting by Yoshifumi Takemoto, Chang-Ran Kim and Rocky Swift
in Tokyo, Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne;
Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Clarence Fernandez)
((rocky.swift@thomsonreuters.com))