#Roommates, the impact of the deadly coronavirus isn’t slowing down any time soon. Following numerous precautions to ensure that the spread of the disease is kept as tightly under wraps as possible, now the Tokyo Summer Olympics could be at risk if the coronavirus isn’t contained before the games are set to begin.
@NBCNews reports that Dick Pound, who is the longest-serving member of the International Olympic Committee, recently revealed in an interview that he estimates there’s only a three-month window to decide if the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo will move forward as planned. Tokyo is one of several countries threatened by the highly-contagious coronavirus that originated in China.
The 2020 Summer Olympics are set to begin on July 24th in Tokyo—but that may not happen if the coronavirus continues to be a serious threat to the athletes competing. Pound, who has been a member of the IOC since 1978, spoke very frankly about the fate of one of the biggest sporting events in the world.
He had this to say about the approaching future of the Olympics:
“You could certainly go to two months out if you had to. “A lot of things have to start happening. You’ve got to start ramping up your security, your food, the Olympic Village, the hotels. The media folks will be in there building their studios. This is the new war, and you have to face it. In and around that time, I’d say, folks are going to have to ask: ‘Is this under sufficient control that we can be confident about going to Tokyo or not?’”
Pound then attempted to inject some optimism in his bleak prediction by encouraging the 11,000 Olympics athletes to still continue to train in the hopes that things turn around:
“As far as we all know, you’re going to be in Tokyo. All indications are at this stage that it will be business as usual. So keep focused on your sport and be sure that the IOC is not going to send you into a pandemic situation.”
As far as postponing or cancelling the Summer Olympics, which have only been cancelled just once in history, Pound stated:
“It’s a big, big, big decision, and you just can’t take it until you have reliable facts on which to base it. You just don’t postpone something on the size and scale of the Olympics. There’s so many moving parts, so many countries and different seasons and competitive seasons and television seasons. You can’t just say we’ll do it in October. To move the place is difficult, because there are few places in the world that could think of gearing up facilities in that short time to put something on.”
Earlier this week, we previously reported that the CDC told Americans to brace for the worst, as the coronavirus threat to the U.S. is steadily increasing.
Roommates, what are your thoughts on this?
