IOC president Bach rejects speculation over Olympics

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach rejected Wednesday speculation about a cancellation or postponement of the Olympic Games in Tokyo due to the spread of coronavirus.

Such a scenario was not discussed in the executive meetings of the IOC this week, he said in Lausanne, Switzerland.

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Bach said the IOC does “not speculate on future developments” and will follow the advice of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The IOC executive board on Tuesday “expressed its full commitment to the success of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, taking place from July 24 to August 9 2020.”

The IOC has established a joint task force involving the IOC, Tokyo 2020, the host city of Tokyo, the government of Japan and WHO.

Bach said the outbreak of the virus had caused problems for qualification competitions for Tokyo 2020.

The IOC will discuss hardship regulations with respective associations if athletes are prevented from participating in these tournaments because of the virus, he said.

In other developments, the IOC said it wanted winter and summer games to be “climate positive” from 2030, and will create an “Olympic forest”, Bach said.

“Climate change is a challenge of unprecedented proportions, and it requires an unprecedented response,” he said.

“Looking ahead, we want to do more than reducing and compensating our own impact. We want to ensure that, in sport, we are at the forefront of the global efforts to address climate change and leave a tangible, positive legacy for the planet.

“Creating an Olympic forest will be one way in which we will work to achieve this goal.”

The forest will contribute to the UN-backed Great Green Wall project in Africa, an initiative to combat the effects of desertification.

The IOC said the forest would support communities in Africa’s Sahel region working towards the sustainable use of forests, rangelands and other natural resources.

In a rule change, the IOC will allow one female and one male flagbearer per team at the summer Olympics opening ceremonies.

The executive board also decided that from Tokyo there should be for the first time at least one female and one male athlete in every one of the 206 teams and the IOC refugee Olympic team.

“The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be the first gender-balanced Olympic Games in history with 48.8 per cent women’s participation,” Bach said.