Amid doubt in the schedule of Olympic games, which are due in July, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the games’ chief Thomas Bach called for ‘patience’ on Wednesday. 

Originally scheduled to take place in 2020, the Tokyo Olympics were postponed due to the unprecedented crisis faced by the outbreak of coronavirus, becoming the first Games in peacetime to suffer the fate. The Games are now due to take place from July 23 to August 8 this year, decided by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Japanese organisers. 

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However, several media reports have claimed that the Olympics Games won’t be taking place.  Downplaying the reports, the IOC president Bach said, “We’re not losing time or energy on speculation… about whether the Games are taking place.” His remarks came after a meeting of the IOC executive board.  

Bach said the IOC is working on how the games will take place, adding, “Our task is to organise Olympic Games, not to cancel Olympic Games… and that is why we will not add fuel to this speculation.”

“We just have to ask for patience and understanding, is the main message,” Bach said, noting that organising the Games have become complex as a result of coronavirus.

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“I think it is too early to decide anything else,” he added.

The IOC had earlier released a statement after the last executive board meeting on December 12, the day Pfizer coronavirus vaccine was approved in the US. The committee had expressed its “full commitment” to organise the games. 

However, since then, the emergence of new COVID-19 strains, reportedly more infectious, has sparked debate on whether the Games can take place and whether it is morally justifiable that competitors be prioritised for vaccination, reports AFP. 

“We always have made it clear that we are not in favour of athletes jumping the queue,” Bach stressed.

Bach said the committee is constantly accumulating knowledge on how to organise such a huge event in exceptional circumstances, adding, “There is no blueprint, we’re learning every day.”