With mounting fears of safety surrounding COVID-19 and major countries pulling their teams from the 2020 competition, Tokyo is feeling the pressure to make a decision soon.
Canada Will Not Send Their Athletes To Tokyo 2020
The long awaited 2020 Olympics in Tokyo has had an investment budget of $12.6 Billion (1.35 trillion yen) which may be making the Olympic Committee hesitant to make a much needed choice. The Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Committees have publicly announced they will not be sending their teams to Tokyo, mentioning "This is not solely about athlete health, it is about public health."
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Australia soon followed suit and released a similar announcement including "our athletes now need to prioritize their own health and of those around them, and to be able to return to the families." With both of these countries officially withdrawing their teams and many famous athletes calling for action, Tokyo has been forced to respond.
International Olympic Committee Responds To Canadian and Australian Announcements
The International Olympic Committee has said it is considering postponing the Summer Olympics, not cancelling. This comes less than a week after they stated they would make "no drastic decisions". IOC President Thomas Bach has said "Cancellation would not solve any problem and would help nobody. Therefore it is not on our agenda."
We will see what decisions will be made as more countries withdraw their athletes from the Olympics.