The global Covid-19 pandemic has made hosting the biggest sporting event in the world impossible in the current situation. Japanese media reported that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe asked International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach to postpone the event until 2021, although the IOC had made no official pronouncement by Tuesday afternoon. 

However, Abe told the media: “I proposed to postpone for a year and [IOC] president Thomas Bach responded with 100% agreement.”

On 15 March 2020, the IOC made its first public move suggesting a postponement of the Games by admitting its Executive Board (EB) had stepped up its scenario planning to legislate for such a situation. They said it would need four weeks to make a decision. 

The IOC claimed its “scenario planning” included looking at a new start date for the Olympics, but it did not indicate when that might be. 

The most shocking revelation made by the IOC in their initial communication about the future of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, was that cancellation “would not solve any of the problems, or help anybody.”

On what planet were the IOC bigwigs, and by extension the Japanese Organising Committee, living when they released that sentiment in their statement on 15 March? 

Abe has now stepped in and will almost certainly compel the IOC to postpone the Games, although cancellation is not entirely out of the question, given the logistics of reorganising an event that involved 33 sporting federations and 206 National Olympic Committees (NOC). 

Bach wrote a personal letter to athletes about the situation, but it seems the speed of events is overtaking the IOC’s best plans. 

“There are significant improvements in Japan where the people are warmly welcoming the Olympic flame,” the IOC said in a statement. “This could strengthen the IOC’s confidence in the Japanese hosts that the IOC could, with certain safety restrictions, organise Olympic Games in the country whilst respecting its principle of safeguarding the health of everyone involved.  

“On the other hand, there is a dramatic increase in cases and new outbreaks of Covid-19 in different countries on different continents. This led the EB to the conclusion that the IOC needs to take the next step in its scenario-planning.  

“A number of critical venues needed for the Games could potentially not be available anymore. The situations with millions of nights already booked in hotels is extremely difficult to handle and the international sports calendar for at least 33 Olympic sports would have to be adapted. These are just a few of many, many more challenges. 

“Therefore, further to the study of different scenarios, it would need the full commitment and cooperation of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and the Japanese authorities, and of all the International Federations (IFs) and National Olympic Committees (NOCs). 

“It would also require commitment from, and collaboration with, the Rights-Holding Broadcasters (RHBs) and our TOP Partner sponsors, as part of their continued and valued support to the Olympic movement, as well as cooperation from all the Games’ partners, suppliers and contractors. 

“The IOC EB emphasised that a cancellation of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 would not solve any of the problems or help anybody. Therefore, cancellation is not on the agenda.” 

Not calling off an event that would require thousands of athletes and coaches to fly to Japan to participate, in addition to thousands of media and hundreds of thousands of fans, at a time when the two most used words in any language are “social distancing” is mind-boggling. If that were the case, it would smack of desperation by the IOC. 

The IOC is witnessing its major cash cow succumbing to the pandemic sweeping the globe and the negative ramifications for the business are presumably too massive to contemplate. 

The complexities around unscrambling the egg that is postponing an event the size of the Olympics is massive, but the alternative of holding it in its current time slot, is impossible. 

It’s a massive blow for the IOC, but like their football counterpart, Fifa, there is little sympathy towards an organisation that has commercialised the Olympics to such an extent that few cities want any part of it. The cost/benefit ratio of hosting a global event on this scale is not worth it. 

Canada and Australia have officially withdrawn their teams from the 2020 Olympics and USA Track and Field said it wanted the Games postponed. USA Swimming took the same view while many athletes and administrators, including Sebastian Coe, have called for a postponement. DM