THE Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) have not received any official word that the Tokyo Olympics will be cancelled.
That was the response from OCM president Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria yesterday on news that the Greatest Show on Earth might be called off due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Norza said the OCM have not received anything in black and white from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the matter.
As far as Norza is concerned, the OCM will stick to the IOC’s calendar given out before the Covid-19 epidemic.
“For OCM, the Olympics will be held in Tokyo as scheduled (from July 24-August 9) unless there is further announcement from IOC,” he said.
Dick Pound, a senior member of the IOC, said on Tuesday in an interview with the Associated Press that the organizers are more likely to cancel the Tokyo Olympics than postpone or shift it to another country if the Covid-19 is of grave danger in the Japanese capital.
Pound, the longest-serving member of the IOC (since 1978), also believes there is a two to three-month window, to decide whether the Olympics should continue in Tokyo.
“In and around that time, I'd say folks are going to have to ask: 'Is this under sufficient control that we can be confident about going to Tokyo or not?’” he told AP.
Pound also said the organisers will have to look into things like security, food, Olympic Village and hotels as the Games loom near.
“If the IOC decide the games cannot go forward as scheduled in Tokyo, you're probably looking at a cancellation,” he said.
However, Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto said yesterday the Olympics will go on as scheduled, even as the Japanese government called for major events in coming weeks in the country to be postponed, cancelled or scaled back over the coronavirus.
