Coronavirus: threat to Tokyo Olympics worst in 80 years

The Olympics are facing their greatest threat since World War II but organisers are refusing to buckle in the face of coronavirus.

The New Tokyo Stadium, the main venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Picture: AFP

The Olympics are facing their greatest threat since the Games were cancelled during World War II, but organisers are refusing to buckle under the threat of the ­coronavirus.

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach on Friday said they were “fully committed” to holding the Games in Tokyo in July.

The Australian Olympic ­Committee has also advised ­athletes to prepare for the Games to proceed.

Mr Bach’s comments, during a media conference in Japan, came as Japanese Prime Minister ­Shinzo Abe ordered the closure of all schools in an effort to halt the spread of the virus.

More than 200 people have been infected in Japan and there have been four deaths.

The toll is in ­addition to the 700 people tested positive among 3700 passengers and crew on the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was moored off Yokohama.

Mr Bach avoided directly ­addressing comments by senior IOC member Dick Pound, who hinted the Games could be cancelled if health authorities ­imposed travel bans.

However, Mr Pound said there had been no formal discussion among IOC members about cancelling the Games.

Mr Bach said the priority was “to ensure the qualification procedure and protecting the safety of athletes at the same time”.

“This is what we’re doing in co-operation with the Japanese ­authorities, the World Health ­Organisation, the Chinese Olympic Committee and many NOCs (national Olympic committees),” Mr Bach said.

Former IOC vice-president Kevan Gosper was asked by the ABC how the threat of the coronavirus compared to the many challenges the Olympic Games had faced.

“I would say it’s the most serious,” he said. “I would say next to the coronavirus was the zika virus before we went to Rio (in 2016), and that was very serious because if a woman caught the virus they could suffer in pregnancy with ­deformed children.

“We’ve had big ones like the Moscow boycott (in 1980). We had the terrible one in Munich (1972) where the 11 Israeli athletes were killed, and I could go through chapter and verse a number of them.

“This is serious because of the spread. It’s serious because of the speed with which it’s escalating.

“But for the first time we’ve got to think seriously that we’ve only got a two to three-month window (to decide) if we can continue with the Games.”

Raymond da Silva Rosa, professor of finance at the University of Western Australia, said a cancellation would cost Japan about $500m in lost tourism revenue.

“The cost comes from the lost opportunity to spotlight Japan,” he said.

“The Olympics have a way of focusing the world’s attention on a country and that’s very difficult to do with just about any other world event.

“If it doesn’t go ahead, I think over the long term, I think in the ballpark of at least $500m could be lost in tourism.”

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: AGENCIES