Tokyo Olympics to happen next year, despite coronavirus pandemic

International Olympic Committee’s Vice-President John Coates said the Tokyo Olympics will go ahead next year regardless of the coronavirus situation, AFP reported.

Coates told AFP in a phone interview the Games will start as planned on July 23 “with or without Covid,” stressing that the Olympics have never been cancelled outside of world wars.

It will be the “Games that conquered Covid,” the head of the IOC’s coordination committee for the Tokyo event said. The Olympics, which was postponed by a year as the coronavirus pandemic infected millions around the world, was an event outgoing premier Shinzo Abe had said would mark humanity’s victory over the virus.