{"id":429390,"date":"2020-04-29T06:03:38","date_gmt":"2020-04-29T13:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=429390"},"modified":"2020-04-29T06:03:38","modified_gmt":"2020-04-29T13:03:38","slug":"japanese-pm-shinzo-abe-olympics-cannot-be-held-unless-coronavirus-is-contained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/japanese-pm-shinzo-abe-olympics-cannot-be-held-unless-coronavirus-is-contained\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese PM Shinzo Abe: Olympics Cannot Be Held Unless Coronavirus Is Contained"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Tokyo 2020<\/strong> cannot go ahead unless the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been contained, Japanese <strong>prime minister Shinzo Abe<\/strong> said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<strong>International Olympic Committee<\/strong>\u00a0(IOC) and the Japanese government last month announced the postponement of Tokyo 2020 by a year with the Games rescheduled for 23 July to 8 August 2021 and the\u00a0<strong>Paralympic Games<\/strong>\u00a0running from 24 August-5 September.<\/p>\n<p>However, doubts have been cast the Games will even take place in 2021 with the head of the\u00a0<strong>Japan Medical Association<\/strong>\u00a0(JMA)\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/tokyo-2020-president-mori-olympic-games-will-go-ahead-in-2021-or-be-scrapped\/\"><strong>Yoshitake Yokokura<\/strong> saying on Tuesday it would be \u201cdifficult\u201d for them to be staged if a vaccine had not been developed.<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_219110\" style=\"width: 315px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-219110\" data-attachment-id=\"219110\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/the-week-that-was-near-miss-of-world-records-to-close-out-mare-nostrum\/ioc-flag-closing-ceremony-rio\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/ioc-flag-closing-ceremony-rio-e1497626913904.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1510,1050\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"ioc-flag-closing-ceremony-rio\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;6-14-20&lt;br \/&gt;\n6\/16\/17 &#038; 9\/7\/17&lt;br \/&gt;\nioc-flag-closing-ceremony-rio&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/ioc-flag-closing-ceremony-rio-e1497626913904-700x500.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/ioc-flag-closing-ceremony-rio-e1497626913904-1024x712.jpg\" class=\" wp-image-219110\" src=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/ioc-flag-closing-ceremony-rio-e1497626913904-700x500.jpg\" alt=\"ioc-flag-closing-ceremony-rio\" width=\"305\" height=\"218\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-219110\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>On the same day <\/strong><strong>Tokyo 2020<\/strong>\u00a0president\u00a0<strong>Yoshiro Mori<\/strong>\u00a0said the Olympics would be \u201cscrapped\u201d if they cannot take place on their rescheduled dates.<\/p>\n<p>While Abe did not mention a vaccine, he emphasised the safety of everyone involved was paramount.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-health-coronavirus-japan-olympics-idUSKCN22B0QR?taid=5ea937b006bb9b0001402b0f&amp;utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&amp;utm_medium=trueAnthem&amp;utm_source=twitter\">News agency Reuters<\/a> reported:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWe\u2019ve been saying the Olympic and Paralympic Games must be held in a complete form, in that athletes and spectators can all participate safely.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would be impossible to hold the Games in such a complete form unless the coronavirus pandemic is contained.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He added that the Olympics \u201cmust be held in a way that shows the world has won its battle against the coronavirus pandemic,\u201d while sounding a warning that Japan should \u201cbrace for a protracted battle\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Tokyo governor<strong> Yuriko Koike<\/strong> called on the government to extend the nationwide state of emergency, which is due to end on May 6.<\/p>\n<p>There are currently 13,895 infections in Japan including 413 deaths, according to national broadcaster NHK.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_113227\" style=\"width: 315px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-113227\" data-attachment-id=\"113227\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/germany-bidding-2024-olympics-paralympic-games\/olympic-rings-2014\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/olympic-rings-2014-e1600555603113.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1100,733\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"olympic-rings-2014\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;17.3.20&lt;br \/&gt;\n7\/23\/2016&lt;br \/&gt;\nolympic-rings-2014&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Will it be Bela Luna or the dark Side of the Moon when the IOC pronounces on Tokyo 2020 &#8211; Photo Courtesy: Guy Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/olympic-rings-2014-700x500.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/olympic-rings-2014-1024x682.jpg\" class=\" wp-image-113227\" src=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/olympic-rings-2014-700x500.jpg\" alt=\"olympic-rings-2014\" width=\"305\" height=\"218\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-113227\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Courtesy: Guy Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Senior IOC member <strong>John Coates<\/strong> responded to the JMA\u2019s assertion by insisting the Olympics being held as scheduled is not contingent on a vaccine being developed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aap.com.au\/tokyo-games-not-reliant-on-vaccine-coates\/\">In an interview with Australian Associated Press<\/a>, Coates said<strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI saw that opinion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut the advice we\u2019re getting from WHO (the World Health Organisation) says we should continue to plan for this date and that is what we\u2019re doing, and that\u2019s not contingent on a vaccine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA vaccine would be nice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut we will just continue to be guided, as we must be, by WHO and the Japanese health authorities because in all of this, the health and wellbeing of the athletes and other participants in the Games is the number one priority.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tokyo 2020 cannot go ahead unless the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been contained, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday. The\u00a0International Olympic Committee\u00a0(IOC) and the Japanese government last month<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7575,"featured_media":424262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[120856,121252,208,893,696,122892,1259,237,122098,695,58477,122205,122891,58739],"class_list":["post-429390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-world","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-international-olympic-committee","tag-ioc","tag-japan","tag-japan-medical-association","tag-john-coates","tag-olympic-games","tag-shinzo-abe","tag-tokyo","tag-tokyo-2020","tag-tokyo-2021","tag-yoshitake-yokokura","tag-yuriko-koike"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - 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