The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is drawing equal measures of anger and rebuke in Japan after senior officials told organizers of the delayed Tokyo Olympics the games should proceed.
This is despite the growing local rates of coronavirus infection coupled with advice from U.S. health officials and the State Department on Tuesday warning Americans against travel to the host nation.
Japanese commenters on social media platforms say IOC President Thomas Bach and Vice President John Coates are ignoring public opinion and forcing the event to go ahead despite opposition, the Guardian reported Monday.
On Twitter, one commenter said, “Thomas Bach and John Coates are neck and neck in the race for the most hated pariah here. I predict a dead heat,” the report said.
As Breitbart News reported, last Friday the IOC vice president in charge of the delayed Tokyo Olympics the event would open in just over two months even if the city and other parts of Japan were under a state of emergency because of rising coronavirus cases.
John Coates, speaking from Australia in a virtual news conference with Tokyo organizers at the end of three days of meetings, said this would be the case even if local medical experts advised against holding the Olympics.
CEO of the Tokyo 2020 Toshiro Muto, left, and President of the Tokyo 2020 Seiko Hashimoto, right, listen to Chairman of the Coordination Commission for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad Tokyo 2020 John Coates, (on screen), delivering a speech during the Tokyo 2020 IOC Coordination Commission press conference on Friday, May 21, 2021 in Tokyo. (Nicolas Datiche/Pool Photo via AP)
This “do as you are told” attitude has not gone down well in the host country, especially after Bach said Saturday sacrifices are needed to make the Olympics happen, despite the ongoing global pandemic.
“The athletes definitely can make their Olympic dreams come true,” Bach told representatives of the International Hockey Federation. “We have to make some sacrifices to make this possible.”
Bach also praised the “resilience” of the Japanese people, the report said. His use of the word “sacrifice” is angering people on social media.
“Why do people in Japan have to make a sacrifice for Olympics during a worldwide pandemic? It is definitely not acceptable,” one user said.
According to Softbank Group chief executive Masayoshi Son, 80 percent of Japanese want the Olympics postponed again or canceled, as Breitbart News has reported previously.
Canceling the Tokyo Games could mean insurers stand to lose $2 to $3 billion, according to estimates from investment bank Jeffries earlier this year.
Any decision to cancel may largely be up to the IOC. According to Alexandre Miguel Mestre, the committee “owns” the Olympics and the powerful organization alone can terminate a Games contract, the BBC reported.
Public opinion is Japan has been running at 60-80 percent against opening the Olympics on July 23, depending on how the question is phrased. Coates suggested public opinion might improve as more Japanese people get fully vaccinated.
That figure is now about two percent.
The current fight over the future of the Tokyo Games comes in the shadow an announcement Tuesday morning made by U.S. officials who cited a surge in coronavirus cases in Japan caused by virus variants that may even be risks to vaccinated people, AP reports.
The warnings by the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could affect insurance rates and whether Olympic athletes and other participants decide to join the games that begin July 23.
Most metro areas in Japan are under a state of emergency and expected to remain so through mid-June because of rising serious coronavirus putting pressure on the country’s medical care systems.
Demonstrators protest against the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The IOC and Tokyo Olympic organizers have run into some of the strongest medical-community opposition so far with the games set to open in just over eight weeks. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File)
That raises concern about how the country could cope with the arrival of tens of thousands of Olympic participants if its hospitals remain stressed and little of its population is vaccinated as the countdown contiues to the projected first day of competiton in less than eight weeks.
The U.S. State Department’s warning was more blunt than the Centers for Disease Control. “Do not travel to Japan due to COVID-19,” it said.
AP, UPI contributed to this story