The Games were scheduled for July 24-August 9 this year, but was called off on March 24 due to coronavirus outbreak.
DOHA (Qatar): Olympic Games Executive Director at International Olympic Committee Christophe Dubi said during a media teleconference that despite the new dates for the Tokyo Olympics, the commitments will remain the same.
Excerpts from the interview:
The Olympic Charter says the Summer Games should be celebrated during the first year of an Olympiad. With the Games start now postponed, does it mean you have to change the Olympic Charter?
Dubi: We are not going against the Charter. What we have done here is to make sure that the number-one mission of the IOC, which is to ensure the celebration of the Games, is fully respected. In that sense, we are not going against or changing the Charter. It is going in the direction of what the core mission of the IOC is. And I think everybody would agree with the decision that has been made.
How do you evaluate the impact of the postponement on the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022?
Dubi: Actually, we see this as a formidable opportunity. We will be in a context where Tokyo will generate an immense follow-up. The reach of the Tokyo Games will be absolutely stunning. And right after the excitement has been generated, we will then have the Winter Games in Beijing a few months later. We truly believe that it is a great build-up towards the Beijing Games. We are looking really at the bright side of things when it comes to this opportunity to have back-to-back Games of the Olympiad and Olympic Winter Games.
Tokyo and Japan are seeing gradually increasing numbers of positives for the new coronavirus and may face much stricter controls all around the Asian continent in near future. In Switzerland, you are also working remotely. How is this remote situation, as well as the coronavirus situation, affecting your work to accomplish your tasks?
Dubi: First and foremost, it is about health, about one’s health, about the family, friends, and why they all have, we all have to do the right thing when it comes to health.
Everything we have done is driven by that motto: health is first. As a result, no more travel, obviously. What we do is to organise the work by video conference, by teleconference, which means reorganising ourselves in a new way to do business. We had, of course, done that in the past, but now this has been much wider because it is both internally within the IOC, and IOC with Tokyo 2020. And it works. (Source: IOC)
