The head of the International Olympic Committee said Tuesday canceling the Tokyo Olympics was not an option, despite the coronavirus pandemic, and going ahead with the games this summer was decided in the interest of athletes preparing for the event for many years.
While Tokyo is under another state of emergency again due to surging infections, Thomas Bach said during an online interview that he will "not speculate" on what could happen if the COVID-19 situation drastically worsens during the Olympics, which will run from July 23 to Aug. 8.
"We, the IOC, will never abandon the athletes, and with the cancellation, we would have lost a whole generation of athletes. So therefore, a cancellation for us was not really an option," Bach said when referring to the decision in March last year to push back the games due to the global health crisis.