The 2020 Tokyo Olympics is all set to run between July 23 and August 8. However, uncertainty regarding the health security of the participants remains a concern, as IOC President Thomas Bach says that the challenges ahead are unprecedented.
The date to Tokyo Olympics 2020 keeps drawing close, with just 14 days before the global spectacle kicks off. While the organisers continue to toil to get all the preparations right, challenges surround them due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.
In the meantime, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach arrived in Tokyo on Thursday and has abided by the COVID protocols set by the Playbook guidelines, despite being wholly vaccinated. He also underwent his mandatory COVID test at the Haneda airport and travelled to his hotel only after his result turned out negative.
“Finally, we are here. This is the moment we have been longing for such a long time. Now, I feel like an athlete in the call room,” he said upon arrival, said IOC in a release.
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“Certainly, the challenges are unprecedented, but also the opportunities are unprecedented. The first priority is to make these Games safe for everybody, and there we are on the right track. We know this from all the measures and all the experts’ advice we have been getting. And then, it’s the moment for the athletes to shine and this will be a very special moment under these circumstances, to get all the world together and send this message from Japan to the world,” he added.
Bach is expected to work mostly virtually in Tokyo. He took part in a Five-Party meeting involving IOC, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, the Government of Japan and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
Meanwhile, he is also scheduled to conduct meetings, both in-person and virtual, with the arriving contingents, stakeholders and the Organising Committee from July 12. He would be travelling to Hiroshima on July 16 to begin the Olympic Truce. Also, the IOC Executive Board meeting is expected to happen on July 17-18 in Tokyo, while the 138th IOC Session would be conducted on July 20.
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