A day after the Tokyo Medical Practitioners Association called for July’s Olympic Games to be cancelled, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has offered organisers extra medical personnel as part of national teams flying in to compete.
Key points:
- IOC president Thomas Bach made the announcement at the final coordination commission meeting
- Mr Bach said the medical staff could support the implementation of COVID measures in the Olympic village and venues
- Olympic organisers have been publicly criticised after calling for nurses to volunteer at the Games
IOC president Thomas Bach made the announcement at the start of the 11th and final coordination commission meeting that got underway on Wednesday afternoon local time, just 65 days out from the July 23 opening ceremony.
“The athletes deserve our clarity and our full commitment,” Mr Bach said.
“For obvious reasons, we cannot give them every detail yet, but the most important principle is very clear: The Olympic village is a safe place and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo 2020 will be organised in a safe way.
“To accomplish this, we are now fully focused on the delivery of the Olympic Games, we are working hard so the athletes can make their dream a reality after all their hard work over so many years with all their perseverance.
“To contribute to this, the IOC has offered to the organising committee to have additional medical personnel as part of the NOC delegations to support the medical operations and the strict implementation of the COVID-19 countermeasures in the Olympic village and in the Olympic venues.”
Mr Bach also said he expected more than 80 per cent of Olympic and Paralympic village residents to be vaccinated.
Olympic organisers have been publicly criticised after calling for nurses to volunteer at the Games and requesting support from dozens of hospitals in and around Tokyo should their services be required.
The Governor of Chiba prefecture, where an Olympic surfing event will be contested for the first time, has asked the organising committee to refrain from being a drain on medical resources in his area and said he is not considering “precious beds for COVID-19 patients” being occupied by athletes or staff attending the Games.
Tokyo 2020 president Seiko Hashimoto described Mr Bach’s offer of fly-in fly-out doctors as kind, making the point there was still much to discuss.
“President Bach kindly made an offer with respect to COVID-19 countermeasures to make additional support to the NOC medical personnel at the village and the venues, which we appreciate very much,” he said.
When asked for further clarity on how visiting medical personnel would operate inside the Tokyo Games bubble — such as whether they would have access to the existing medical facilities or medical equipment — a spokesperson said: “We are working on details.”
AP: Eugene Hoshiko
)A statement of support from the World Health Organization was read to the commission members by the IOC president stating “confidence that the International Olympic Committee and the host city Tokyo and the government of Japan will make the right decisions” in managing the risks associated with staging the world’s biggest sports in a city blanketed in a state of emergency.
Reports inside Japan suggest only about 30 per cent of medical personnel in Tokyo have been vaccinated so far while less than 4 per cent of the public has had at least one shot.
Australia’s Olympic Committee president and chair of the Tokyo coordination commission, John Coates, said after four years of planning meetings, the organisers of the Olympic and Paralympic Games had now entered “full delivery mode”.
He said the blueprint to deliver the Games was based on the latest scientific developments and lessons learned from hundreds of other sporting events that had been held around the world without becoming “super spreaders”, and it was endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and an independent panel.
“Yes, the constraints over stakeholders will be many,” Coates said.
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“But we all understand that this is necessary, not just for their safety, but most importantly it is necessary for the safety of the Japanese population.”
Storm over Chinese winter Olympics
While the immediate focus is on Tokyo, a political storm is also gathering strength over Beijing, which is due to host the winter Olympics in just nine months time.
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for world leaders to boycott those Games because of what she calls an “ongoing genocide” against the minority Uyghur population in Xinjiang.
China’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said politicians “should not stand on the opposite side of athletes”, many of whom were opposed to a boycott.
A spokesman from the Australian Olympic Committee said: “Political interference in sport does not have a good record, particularly when it comes to boycotts.”
