ATHENS (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Tuesday kicked off a round of internal briefings and discussions with federations and national Olympic Committees to assess the impact of the coronavirus on the Tokyo Games.
Speculation about whether the July 24 to Aug. 9 Games can be held has mounted by the day due to concerns about the virus, which has infected almost 180,000 people and killed over 7,000 worldwide, with the epicentre now Europe.No decision is expected from the IOC this week, with tens of billions of dollars already invested in the Games infrastructure and venues by Japan, the IOC and global and domestic sponsors and broadcast rights holders.
"There will be a series of conference calls over the coming days to discuss the issues," a source with the Olympic movement told Reuters of the talks. The IOC on Monday scrapped all Olympic boxing qualifying tournaments to safeguard the health of athletes and spectators but said there would still be some form of qualifying event for the sport for Tokyo.Thousands of Olympic hopefuls are currently either unable to travel, train or compete due to severe restrictions in dozens of countries, raising questions about the level and quality of competition in Tokyo should the Games go ahead.
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