The governor of Tokyo is not offering any promises the postponed Summer Olympics will be staged as rescheduled next year, acknowledging headwinds from the novel coronavirus as well as public opinion in Japan.
“In order to realize such hopeful games, we will continue to do our best to fight against the infectious disease,” Yuriko Koike told CNBC on Tuesday.
Tasked with keeping costs under control, Koike would not answer a question if it was a possibility the Olympic Games could be held without spectators.
“First of all, we have to win the victory against the coronavirus,” she said.
Besides trying to stage the Olympics without an approved vaccine for the novel coronavirus, or even if one is developed whether the public would have the confidence in it, support for the Olympics in Japan – the first since the Winter Games in 1998 and first Summer Games in Tokyo since 1964 – has fallen.
Less than a quarter of people surveyed in a Kyodo news agency poll released last week said they want the games held next year. A little more than 36% wanted a further delay and 34% want the quadrennial event cancelled.
The Summer Games, which were to officially begin on Friday, have been delayed until July 23, 2021.
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