Photo/Illutration Japan’s Olympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto comments on the impact from the spread of the new coronavirus on the Tokyo Olympics after a ceremony related to Olympic flame in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 20. (Toshiyuki Hayashi)

Widespread speculation that the summer Olympic Games will have to be postponed moved up a notch after the head of the International Olympic Committee suggested for the first time that a delay might be inevitable in the face of the global outbreak of the new coronavirus.

IOC President Thomas Bach said in an interview with The New York Times on March 19 that “We are considering different scenarios” and “cancellation is not on the agenda.”

The Opening Ceremony for the Summer Games in Tokyo is scheduled to be held July 24.

Bach’s comment echoed comments by officials in Tokyo that a postponement may be the only option to avoid cancelling the sporting extravaganza altogether.

The Tokyo metropolitan government has set aside 1.37 trillion yen ($12.8 billion) to host the Olympics and for related expenditures.

Postponing the Games would incur additional unspecified costs for the metropolitan government.

“We have to start figuring out how much it will cost us additionally when the Olympics is put off,” said a senior metropolitan official.

A possible postponement does not come as a total surprise to Tokyo officials.

“We are aware that global sentiment is leaning toward a postponement (rather than going ahead as scheduled),” the official said. “With regard to a postponement, the IOC, the Japanese government and the metropolitan government are looking at this scenario in the same way.”

U.S. President Donald Trump acknowledged at a news conference on March 19 that leaders of the Group of Seven countries discussed the option of calling off or postponing the Olympics when they held an emergency videoconference March 16 to coordinate steps to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump noted during the videoconference that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe “has told us that he has not made a decision as to what to do.”

Trump noted that Abe faced a difficult decision, and that he would respect whatever he decides.

Calls are growing in and out of Japan for a postponement.

In Italy, where the death toll from the coronavirus overtook China's on March 19 to become the world’s highest, Gianni Petrucci, the former president of the Italian National Olympic Committee who is also the head of the Italian Basketball Federation, urged the IOC to reconsider its unwavering stance over the Tokyo Games.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Petrucci made an emotional plea, saying: “This pandemic is affecting the entire world. I know about the billion-dollar contracts, the insurance deals. I know it all. But human life is worth more than all of those things.”

In a similar move, Tim Hinchey, the CEO of USA Swimming, the national governing body for competitive swimming in the United States, called for postponing the Tokyo Olympics by a year in a March 20 letter to Sarah Hirshland, chief executive officer of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

“Our athletes are under tremendous pressure, stress and anxiety, and their mental health and wellness should be among the highest priorities,” Hinchey said in the letter. “It is with the burden of these serious concerns that we respectfully request that the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee advocate for the postponement of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 by one year.

He added: “We urge the USOPC, as a leader within the Olympic Movement, to use its voice and speak up for the athletes.”

USA Swimming is hugely influential body as swimming ranks as the most popular event along with track and field in Olympic sports for U.S. spectators.

If the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee urges the IOC to postpone the Games, the IOC will be obliged to listen.

In Japan, Yasuhiro Yamashita, president of the Japanese Olympic Committee, on March 20 expressed empathy for Bach’s comment concerning “different scenarios.”

But there is no big change in the direction of the Tokyo Olympics at this stage, he said.

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