{"id":20619,"date":"2021-01-10T20:10:04","date_gmt":"2021-01-10T20:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/kenya\/?p=20619"},"modified":"2021-01-10T20:10:04","modified_gmt":"2021-01-10T20:10:04","slug":"why-olympic-games-might-not-take-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/why-olympic-games-might-not-take-place","title":{"rendered":"Why Olympic Games might not take place"},"content":{"rendered":"

AfricaPress-Kenya:<\/strong> A senior member of the International Olympic Committee has said he \u201ccan\u2019t be certain\u201d the postponed Tokyo Olympics will open in just over six months because of the surging pandemic in Japan and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

The comments by Canadian IOC member Richard Pound to British broadcaster the BBC came as Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency on Thursday for Tokyo and surrounding prefectures.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t be certain because the ongoing elephant in the room would be the surges in the virus,\u201d Pound said speaking about the future of the Tokyo Games.<\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s emergency order, which is largely voluntary, will be in force until the first week of February.<\/p>\n

Tokyo reported a record of 2,447 new cases on Thursday, a 50n per cent increase from the previous day \u2014 which was also a record day. Japan has attributed over 3,500 deaths to Covid-19, relatively low for a country of 126 million.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s crunch time for Tokyo. Organisers say the Olympics will take place, but they are not expected to reveal concrete plans until spring. That\u2019s about the same time the torch relay begins on March 25 with 10,000 runners crisscrossing the country for four months leading to the opening ceremony on July 23.<\/p>\n

Pound also hinted athletes should be a high priority for a vaccine because they serve as \u201crole models.\u201d Pound\u2019s comments seem to contradict IOC President Thomas Bach.<\/p>\n

Bach said in a visit to Tokyo in November that athletes should be encouraged to get a vaccine, but would not be required to. He also indicated they should not be a priority. Bach said that nurses, doctors and health care workers should be first in line for a vaccine, ahead of healthy, young athletes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAthletes are important role models, and by taking the vaccine they can send a powerful message that vaccination is not only about personal health, but also about solidarity and consideration for the well being of others in their communities,\u201d Pound said.<\/p>\n

Pound went further in a separate interview with British broadcaster Sky News. He said giving athletes priority might be \u201cthe most realistic way of going ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Canada where we might have 300 or 400 athletes \u2014 to take 300 or 400 vaccines out of several million in order to have Canada represented at international even of this stature, character and level \u2014 I don\u2019t think there would be any kind of public outcry about that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Reports suggest that the vaccine rollout in Japan is likely to be slowed by the need for local clinical trials.<\/p>\n

Some vaccines might not be readily available until May, although Suga said some would be ready in February.<\/p>\n

The Japanese public is becoming skeptical.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AfricaPress-Kenya: A senior member of the International Olympic Committee has said he \u201ccan\u2019t be certain\u201d the postponed Tokyo Olympics will open in just over six months because of the surging pandemic in Japan and elsewhere. The comments by Canadian IOC member Richard Pound to British broadcaster the BBC came as Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":20613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17],"tags":[4048,406,7105],"class_list":["post-20619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","tag-ioc","tag-olympic","tag-richard-pound"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Olympic Games might not take place - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A senior member of the International Olympic Committee has said he \u201ccan\u2019t be certain\u201d the postponed Tokyo Olympics will open in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/why-olympic-games-might-not-take-place\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Olympic Games might not take place\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A senior member of the International Olympic Committee has said he \u201ccan\u2019t be certain\u201d the postponed Tokyo Olympics will open in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/why-olympic-games-might-not-take-place\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-10T20:10:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/01\/why_olympic_games_mi5ffa1c1b27360.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"539\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/why-olympic-games-might-not-take-place#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/why-olympic-games-might-not-take-place\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Why Olympic Games might not take place\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-10T20:10:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/why-olympic-games-might-not-take-place\"},\"wordCount\":452,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/why-olympic-games-might-not-take-place#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/01\/why_olympic_games_mi5ffa1c1b27360.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"IOC\",\"Olympic\",\"Richard Pound\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/why-olympic-games-might-not-take-place#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/why-olympic-games-might-not-take-place\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/why-olympic-games-might-not-take-place\",\"name\":\"Why Olympic Games might not take place - 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