The International Olympic Committee opens the door to the cancellation of the Games by the coronavirus

The oldest member of the organization, Dick Pound, points out that in the next three months the situation will be assessed

After several weeks denying the possibility, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) accepted on Tuesday that, if it is dangerous to hold the Tokyo Olympics this summer for the coronavirus, these will be canceled. According Dick pound, the IOC member with more years of antiquity in the organism, in the next two or three months it will be decided if there are Games or not, but in no case will they be postponed next year or organized in another city.

“The question we will then have to ask ourselves: Is there enough control of the virus to be able to rely on the celebration of the Games?” He commented in an interview with The Associated Press. According to Pound, the cancellation should be decided with a certain margin because in the weeks prior to the inauguration “many things happen. Security, food, the Olympic Village, hotels, facilities for the media must be organized …” . In spite of everything, the veteran member of the IOC encouraged the athletes to continue training: “As far as we all know, there will be Tokyo Olympics. Right now the indications indicate that everything goes on as usual.”

Pound also rejected the possibility of a move to another city because “there are few places in the world that can prepare Games in such a short time” and flatly denied the option of a postponement: “We cannot postpone an event the size of the Games. There are so many passes, so many competitive calendars, so many television interests at play that it is impossible to say: 'Come on, we better do them in October'. ” In addition, the leader revealed that the IOC has an emergency fund of 1,000 million dollars for unforeseen circumstances such as this.

Although now, with 78 years, remains in the background, Pound still has weight within the IOC. He was vice president of the entity and candidate for president in 2001 when he won Jacques Rogge and he chaired the World Anti-Doping Agency from its creation in 1999 until 2007. In his position, he faced the International Cycling Union (UCI) to try to clean up cycling and then commando research on doping in Russian sport.

On several occasions, his words raised controversy within the IOC itself as when he accused Juan Antonio Samarach of hiding doping under the carpet. In 2005, in fact, before the first investigations on Lance Armstrong He was named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.