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Abe softens stance on full-scale Olympics to avoid cancellation
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has repeatedly vowed to hold the Olympics in a "complete form" next summer, but those ambitions are being tamped down as he hopes to avoid the worst case scenario: a cancellation of the event. The International Olympic Committee's executive board meets online Wednesday to discuss the postponed Summer Games. The only two choices are holding the games in Tokyo next year as scheduled or canceling them altogether, IOC member Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant said, according to European media.
A final decision could be made next spring, Beckers-Vieujant said. The new coronavirus still rages outside Japan. Development of treatments and vaccines has lagged behind schedule.
So the Abe government is scrambling to prepare for athletes and spectators to go even if vaccines have not been fully administered. The only option off the table is holding the games without fans in the seats. Organizers will adopt a flexible administrative policy reflecting the IOC's desire to control costs. This may include simplifying the event by shortening the opening ceremony, the torch relay schedule and the guest list. Abe recently used the term "complete form" when talking to reporters May 25, the day he declared an end to Japan's state of emergency over COVID-19. "Next summer, as proof that humanity has completely defeated the novel coronavirus, I intend to open the games in a complete form," he said. This determination started to soften in the government the next day, when Tokyo 2020 President Yoshiro Mori visited Abe at the prime minister's official residence.
Mori said the priority should be to host the Olympics without obsessing over whether they are complete, according to a source familiar with the conversation. The former prime minister was also reportedly hesitant over whether mass vaccination should be a condition.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Tokyo-2020-Olympics/Abe-softens-stance-on-full-scale-Olympics-to-avoid-cancellation