Olympic Chief Bach Calls For 'patience' Over Tokyo Games

Olympic chief Bach calls for 'patience' over Tokyo Games

Lausanne, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Jan, 2021 ) :Olympic chief Thomas Bach called on Wednesday for "patience" over the Tokyo Games, the holding of which this summer are in continued doubt due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Tokyo Olympics were originally to have taken place last year but were postponed in the face of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, becoming the first Games in peacetime to suffer that fate.

The IOC and the Japanese organisers rescheduled the Games for July 23 to August 8 this year.

But several media reports have claimed that the Games cannot go ahead, something an exasperated Bach was quick to play down after a meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board.

"We're not losing time or energy on speculation... about whether the Games are taking place," IOC president Bach said.

"We're working on how the Games will take place.

"Our task is to organise Olympic Games, not to cancel Olympic Games... and that is why we will not add fuel to this speculation." Bach said while the complexity of organising the Games had increased as a result of the virus, "we just have to ask for patience and understanding, is the main message".

"I think it is too early to decide anything else," he added.

After the last executive board meeting, the IOC released a statement on December 12, the same day the Pfizer vaccine was approved in the United States, expressing its "full commitment" to staging the Games.

Since then, the emergence of more infectious virus strains has sparked debate on whether the Games can take place and whether it is morally justifiable that competitors be prioritised for vaccination.

"We always have made it clear that we are not in favour of athletes jumping the queue," Bach stressed.