Tokyo Olympics ‘likely to be cancelled’ if coronavirus not contained by May

The Tokyo Olympics will be cancelled rather than postponed if the threat of coronavirus is not contained by May, an international committee (IOC) member has warned.

Former Canadian swimmer Dick Pound said there was a three-month window to decide the fate of the games amid the rapid spread of the deadly disease.

He cast doubt on moving the event to a different location, saying that if can’t go forward as scheduled in Tokyo, ‘you’re probably looking at a cancellation’.

He said: ‘You just don’t postpone something on the size and scale of the Olympics. There’s so many moving parts, so many countries and different seasons, and competitive seasons, and television seasons. You can’t just say, `We’ll do it in October.’

About 11,000  athletes are expected to compete in the Olympics, which is set to kick off on July 24 in Japan’s capital.

Pound said moving to another city also seems unlikely ‘because there are few places in the world that could think of gearing up facilities in that short time to put something on.’

The update from the IOC comes after Conservative Mayor for London candidate Shaun Bailey suggested the event be moved to London, sparking an angry row with Tokyo’s governor.

Yuriko Koike suggested the offer was an attempt to use the virus for political purposes.

London can host the #Olympics in 2020.

We have the infrastructure and the experience.
And due to the #coronavirus outbreak, the world might need us to step up.

As Mayor, I will make sure London is ready to answer the call and host the Olympics again.https://t.co/1jJesWS1D6

— Shaun Bailey (@ShaunBaileyUK) February 19, 2020

Japan is officially spending £9.6 billion to organise the Olympics, although a national audit board says the country is spending twice that much.

Coronavirus has infected more than 80,000 people globally and killed over 2,700, since it emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in January .

The vast majority of deaths have been in China, although clusters of the illness are now appearing in the Middle East and Europe, particularly Italy where 11 people have died since Friday.

Japan itself has reported four deaths and 850 cases, mostly on a cruise ship docked in Yokohama.

The modern Olympics, which date back to 1896, have only ever been cancelled during wartime.

The Rio Games in Brazil went on as scheduled in 2016 despite the outbreak of the Zika virus.

The UK has ruled out emergency measures to switch the Olympics to London.

The British Olympic Association said it remained fully supportive of the games taking place in Tokyo, according to the Telegraph.

Tokyo 2020 organisers have set up a taskforce to work with public health officials to ensure it can go ahead as planned and the IOC has been advised by the World Health Organisation that there is no need to cancel or relocate just yet.