With only four months until the scheduled opening of the Tokyo Games, athletes, local governments and torchbearers are perplexed by the International Olympic Committee's announcement that it will finalize its discussions "within the next four weeks" about whether to hold or postpone the event amid the spread of the new coronavirus.
Facing forward
"All I can do is face forward and compete in matches that have been decided," archer Miki Nakamura said after hearing the news Monday that the Olympics might be postponed. The 27-year-old is scheduled to participate in the final trial for the Japanese national team in the middle of next month.
Sport associations are busy collecting information.
In swimming, the national championships that serve as the selection process for the Olympic team are scheduled to start on April 2.
"We're preparing on the assumption that the Games will be held," said a senior official of the Japan Swimming Federation. However, they also said: "The selection criteria are for the 2020 Games, and if the Games are postponed for one or two years, this year's selection will be invalid in principle. If they're postponed, we'll have to consult carefully with our lawyer."
The national team members for the marathon and racewalking have already been unofficially chosen. Mitsugi Ogata, the senior managing director of the Japan Association of Athletics Federations, said: "Those who have already been picked have vested rights, I think. If the Games are postponed for more than a year, we have to listen to the opinions of our committee to foster athletes, as well as the people directly involved."
Koike mentions delay
Senior officials have been in talks off and on since Monday morning at the Tokyo metropolitan government's Bureau of Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 Preparation.
Gov. Yuriko Koike told reporters Monday morning about the possibility of postponement, saying "The term [postponement] may be in one of the various scenarios of [IOC and elsewhere]."
It was the first time Koike had referred to the postponement of the Games, which she had insisted would be held as scheduled.
A senior metropolitan government official said, "Prime Minister Shinzo Abe changed his stance after the IOC to accept postponement, making it inevitable."
Flame on tour
The Olympic flame has been touring the areas afflicted by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake as the flame of recovery, after arriving in Japan from Greece on Friday.
On Monday, the flame was on display for a special event at Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture.
"Considering the athletes and staff who've been preparing for the Games for years, I want the Games to be held [at some point] even if they're postponed," said a 65-year-old woman who came to see the flame.
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