Despite the coronavirus, the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo will still go as planned. (Image via Japan Today)

The 2020 Olympics is not canceled: Tokyo Olympics organizers

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Sports & Culture
Events & Festivals
Feb 01, 2020
2476
It is normal for any major sporting event to be shrouded with cancelation rumor amid a major disease outbreak. Nonetheless, the upcoming 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics does not want to stop, even in the presence of the viral coronavirus.

Despite reporting the first human-to-human infection of the virus, the Japanese organizers once hesitated to continue the august event. Fortunately, on Friday, they shod a light on the matter.

The rumor emerged after the meeting between IOC and the World Health Organization (WHO) discussing the outbreak. On Thursday, the WHO had declared global emergency status for the novel coronavirus.

In an official statement, the organizers did not discuss any cancelation. Collaborating with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Summer Olympics and Paralympics will continue. On a side note, the organizers and IOC will review should any countermeasures be necessary.

Not only the organizers but also all the sponsors and television networks, having invested billions in the august sporting event, will try to keep the game going.

While the demand for Olympics tickets in Japan is unprecedented, the fear of continuous outbreak is still lurking around the corner. About 11,000 athletes competing in the Olympics would bear more pressure to keep themselves safe and sound during the game and the outbreak.

Preventing further infection, the Governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, had warned 62 municipalities earlier in the week about the danger of the novel coronavirus. Either tackle it or regret it later, she said. Japan has also restricted its nationals to travel to China before the situation goes back to normal.

Throughout its history, the Olympics had also faced such drawbacks. During wartime, the Olympics had been stopped. In 1980 and 1984, it was boycotted. The 2002 Winter Olympics in the United States (U.S) was also held in Salt Lake City after the 9-11 incident. The most recent was the Zika virus in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The problem was mainly faced by the Chinese. Since qualifying events in Chinese and the infected regions are being either postponed or canceled by the international federations, Chinese athletes could face extra challenges and more screening. After all, the ground zero of the outbreak was in Wuhan city, the capital of Hubei Province, Central China.

Source: https://bit.ly/2OigjZb

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