TOKYO (Reuters) – Any decision to delay the Summer Olympic Games would need to be made before May, a member of the organizing committee’s executive board told Japanese broadcaster TBS late on Wednesday.
Haruyuki Takahashi’s comments came just hours after the head of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee, Yoshiro Mori, publicly chided him for remarks he first made to the Wall Street Journal that a delay of one or two years would be the most reasonable option if the coronavirus outbreak derailed the Summer Games.
Organisers have been pushing a consistent message that the Games would not be canceled or postponed, and Mori called Takahashi’s suggestion “outrageous” on Wednesday.
Speaking to TBS after Mori’s news conference, Takahashi said, “If you think about the athletes, May would seem too late” to make a decision on any delay, according to the broadcaster. “We need to think about taking the first step, before the IOC (International Olympic Committee).”
Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman
