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Joe Apu
Tokyo Governor, Yuriko Koike, has assured that the 2020 Olympics moved to 2021 will be safe despite the coronavirus pandemic, pledging a “120-percent effort” to ensure the first-ever postponed Games can go ahead.
Koike, who announced at the weekend she would stand for re-election next month, said the city was committed to holding the event as a “symbol of human triumph” over the virus, but admitted it would be downsized.
“I will make a 120-percent effort,” Koike, 67, said in an interview with AFP, but declined to say how confident she was that the sporting extravaganza would open as planned.
Tokyo 2020 became the first Olympics ever postponed in peacetime earlier this year as the coronavirus marched across the globe, upending lives and forcing the cancellation of sporting and cultural events.
They are now scheduled to begin on July 23, 2021 — though they will still be known as the 2020 Games — but medical experts have raised concerns that the delay will not be long enough to contain the virus and hold the event safely.
