With the issues that presaged the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics remaining unresolved, and the resulting questions largely unanswered, the possible scenarios for the global sporting event have been reduced to a binary.
Experts and organizers say there are two choices: stay the course and hold the games to give the country’s battered economy a lifeline, or cancel them and avoid exposure to what could still be an ongoing global pandemic.
“Either the games take place or they're canceled,” said Richard “Dick” Pound, the longest serving member of the International Olympic Committee, during a phone interview with The Japan Times.