Japan contemplates cancelling Tokyo Olympics, says The Times

The Japanese government may already be aware that the Tokyo Olympics will not be held this summer, according to the prestigious UK media outlet The Times. 

After the Olympic Games were postponed due to the COVID-19 health crisis, an agreement had been reached between the Japanese government and the International Olympic Committee authorities to postpone the Games to the summer of 2021 after they were scheduled for last year and could not be held due to the pandemic. 

According to The Times, the Asian country wants to ensure that it can hold the Olympics in 2032 and, for this reason, may have decided not to hold the event scheduled for 2021.

With 97.5 million diagnosed cases and more than two million deaths worldwide, COVID-19 continues to ravage the world, and with health care as a priority, the decision to cancel the Olympic Games may have been taken. 

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics were last year's sporting highlight, along with the European Football Championship, but the pandemic pushed back the dates of both events by exactly one year. The message was one of optimism at the time and it was felt that holding the sporting events later in the year could be a sign that a pandemic had been defeated. 

However, time marches on and the numbers of coronavirus victims continue to rise, pending the outcome of vaccination in all parts of the world. As the months go by, 23 July 2021 is inexorably approaching and the vast majority of countries are seeing their numbers rise despite the existence of several vaccines to tackle the coronavirus. 

Rumours continue to swirl about the future of certain major sporting competitions and doubts are being raised about whether they will be held. However, several official institutions assure that the agreed schedule will be adhered to. In the case of the Olympic Games, there are voices from various authorities that indicate that they will take place, so there is some contradictory information. 

The Times newspaper claims that the decision that there will be no Olympic Games next summer has been taken by the Asian country's leaders and that they are working to achieve the next free date: 2032. In this case, there would be no Games from Rio 2016 to Paris 2024, followed by Los Angeles and then Tokyo. 

According to the British newspaper's sources, the decision is almost final and Tokyo 2021 is doomed, and this is confirmed privately. "Nobody wants to be the first to say it, but the consensus is that it is too difficult. Personally, I don't think they are going to take place," a supposedly senior member of the Japanese government told The Times. 

Meanwhile, Cadena SER asked the Spanish Olympic Committee and it did not give veracity to this information: "Our reports say the opposite. We continue with the 'yes' of Japan and the International Olympic Committee". 

At this point, it is necessary to take into account the cost of holding the Olympic Games, something to be taken into account in the current situation of economic crisis, which in many cases is also caused by the pandemic.

The Tokyo Olympics will cost $15.4 billion, according to the latest version of the budget announced by the organisers, an increase of 21% over the previous estimate due to the costs of the delayed competition and anti-COVID-19 measures. 

The additional cost of the Games after it was decided last March to delay them until the summer of 2021 due to the pandemic thus amounted to some 2.8 billion dollars, which will go mainly to the renegotiation of contracts for the new dates and to the prevention of contagion from COVID-19. 

Although it would have to be seen what economic return in benefits the Olympic Games would bring, taking into account the restrictions on attendance and visitors and other concepts, such as advertising. Something that remains up in the air.