Australian Olympic chiefs on Thursday reaffirmed plans to send athletes to Tokyo 2020, even as a former top official warned it looked impossible to hold the Games.
Australian Olympic Committee chief Matt Carroll said his organisation was doing everything possible to “fulfil the dreams of Australian athletes in incredibly difficult circumstances”.
“The AOC does not live in a bubble,” he said, after a worldwide phone conference with IOC president Thomas Bach.
“There is a global health crisis. We recognise that people are suffering. Things are changing every day and we must adapt.”
“We gain confidence from the IOC’s overriding principles regarding staging the Games. Namely, to protect the health of everyone involved and support the containment of the virus,” he added.
His comments came as Australia’s chef de mission at the London 2012 Olympics, Nick Green, told the Sydney Morning Herald he doubted the Games can proceed as planned.
“A couple of weeks ago, I was as confident as everyone else, saying the Olympics would go ahead, no problem,” said Green, an Olympic rowing champion.
“I’m pretty robust about it but I don’t have the same robustness in my thinking now. I actually can’t see how the Games can go ahead, to be frank.”