Tokyo Olympics organisers are growing “more and more confident” that spectators will be able to attend next year’s rearranged Games.
The Games were due to take place in July and August this year but were postponed until next summer because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the interim, many major sporting events around the world have been forced behind closed doors. However, Tokyo successfully hosted an international gymnastics competition with fans in attendance last weekend, the first major sporting event held in the city with spectators present since the Games were postponed.
And with news of significant progress in the race to find a virus emerging this week, IOC president Thomas Bach issued a positive update.
"Having seen now the different (event) tests in Japan I think we can become more and more confident that we will have a reasonable number of spectators then also in the Olympic venues," Bach said.
Asked if the IOC could itself try to acquire vaccine doses for Olympic participants, Bach said contact is ongoing with the World Health Organization and "a number of the manufacturers."
"There are different options under consideration, how vaccines can be made available," he said.
However, he added that athletes should not be a top priority worldwide.
"The first wave of vaccination ... must be for the people in need, for the high-risk groups, for the nurses, for the medical doctors and for everybody who is keeping our societies alive," Bach said.
The IOC leader said he will go to Tokyo next week for a first visit since the postponement decision was made in March, and the traveling Olympic party had begun a period of quarantine to prepare.
Bach gave a firm "no" in response when asked if a contingency for canceling the Olympics would be discussed.
Additional reporting by AP.
