This archive report was first published on 14 June 2020.
On June 11, 2020, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike spoke during a task force meeting against the new coronavirus at the Metropolitan Government Office in Tokyo. [Kyodo News via AP]
Next year's Olympics will be safe, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has said, pledging a '120 per cent effort' to ensure the first-ever postponed Games can go ahead. The event will be downsized, but Koike remains committed to holding it as a 'symbol of human triumph' over the virus.
Despite the ongoing pandemic, Koike expressed confidence in the city's ability to host the Olympics safely. 'I will make a 120-percent effort,' she said in an interview with AFP. However, she declined to say how confident she was that the sporting extravaganza would open as planned.
The Olympics were postponed earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, and are now scheduled to begin on July 23, 2021. Medical experts have raised concerns that the delay will not be long enough to contain the virus and hold the event safely.
Officials in Japan and from the International Olympic Committee have warned it will not be possible to postpone again. Koike said she was continuing to 'make all-out efforts in the battle against the virus to put on a Games that is full of hope'. She pledged an event 'that is safe and secure for athletes and fans from abroad as well as for residents of Tokyo and Japan'.
