July 22, 2020
TOKYO (Kyodo July 22, 2020 (Mainichi Japan)) -- Roughly half of Japan's national sports federations hope the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 organizers decide this year to either hold or cancel next year's Olympics, according to a Kyodo News survey published Wednesday.
The Olympics, which were originally planned to open on Friday, have been postponed until July 23, 2021, due to the coronavirus pandemic. But as the pandemic rages on in much of the world, questions remain about whether athletes will be able to train sufficiently and travel to qualifying events.
While some within the IOC want a decision this year about whether to go ahead with next year's games, the local organizing committee would prefer a spring 2021 time frame for a decision.
All 35 national federations overseeing the 33 competitions held at the Tokyo Olympic Games answered the survey conducted from the end of June to mid-July. Regarding the question about when a decision should be made to hold the games or cancel, 10 answered "within this year," while 6 chose "this autumn" and one organization selected "this summer."
Only nine federations answered "by next spring" as a satisfactory time for the decision to be made.
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