Reconsidering Organizing The 2020 Tokyo Olympics Due To The COVID-19 Pandemic

JAKARTA - The corona virus pandemic that causes COVID-19 continues to increase every day. This has an impact on the holding of large national and even international celebrations. One of them, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

As of today, the number of COVID-19 cases around the world is recorded to have reached 343,421 cases, with the death rate reaching 14,790 people, while those who recovered were 98,896. As for the location of the Olympics held, Japan, the number of corona virus cases was recorded as many as 1,101 cases, with the number of deaths as many as 41 people, and 235 people who recovered.

The escalation of the COVID-19 outbreak urges the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to reconsider the scenario to be adopted. Most likely the quadrennial event will be postponed.

Citing the official website of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the scenarios that are being designed in the face of the pandemic, are related to whether the Olympics will continue to be held on July 24, 2020, or will be postponed.

President of the IOC Committee, Thomas Bach, said that maintaining the health of all parties involved in the 2020 Olympics is a principle thing. "Therefore we make it our main principle to maintain the health of everyone involved, and contribute to controlling the virus," said Bach.

The consideration of continuing or postponing the 2020 Olympics is not an easy matter. On the one hand, there is a growing interest from Japanese citizens to welcome the Olympics. This led to the consideration that the Olympics would still be held but "not in full formation". With certain safety restrictions, the Olympics in that country can be held.

But on the other hand, there has been a dramatic increase in cases of the COVID-19 pandemic in various countries around the world. This led the Executive Board that the Committee needed to take further steps when drafting scenario planning.

The reason is, there are other considerations that make this event difficult to postpone. For example, related to the availability of accommodation which is thought to be difficult to provide again. According to the official website, at least millions of hotel room nights have been booked for this four-year event. Meanwhile, if it is postponed, one must readjust the international sports calendar which contains at least 33 agendas.

Therefore, in order to formulate a different scenario, it will require full commitment and cooperation between the Olympic Committee and Japanese authorities. In addition, commitment to this scenario is also required from the stakeholders. For example, those who hold broadcasting rights and sponsors. It is predicted that the formulation of this scenario will be completed in four weeks.

Most Likely to Be Delayed

Although the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Committee still gives hope that the Olympics will continue, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the option to postpone it was possible. According to Shinzo, the condition of the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak makes it difficult to guarantee the safety of large sports such as the Tokyo Olympics.

"If the IOC in its decision can be interpreted as being impossible to hold the Olympics in full form, as I said earlier, then the decisions that have to be made might postpone it," Nikkei quoted Abe as saying.

Even so, Abe said, canceling the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was not included in the options from the results of the scenario determination meeting.