The Olympic movement must one day erect a statue to the glory of John Coates. At 70, the Australian leader remains an unwavering optimist. In front of him, the road to the Tokyo Games seems more tortuous and uncertain than ever. But he repeats it without an ounce of doubt: the Olympic event will be held next year in the Japanese capital. “ With or without coronavirus, it will start on July 23, 2021.
Asked by theAFP, John Coates suggested it without a caveat, straight in his boots and sure of his point: “ The Tokyo Games will be the ones that defeat COVID, the light at the end of the tunnel. They will also be the Games of reconstruction after the devastation caused by the tsunami. »
Before him, Thomas Bach gave approximately the same speech for a time. The IOC President has long assured, with his hand on his heart, that holding the Games next year in Tokyo would send the whole world a sign of hope after the cataclysm of the health crisis.
But for several weeks, Thomas Bach has kept his words of optimism to himself. John Coates, for his part, holds the bar. According to him, the Japanese government “ didn’t give up at all”, despite " the immense task” he must assume to postpone the event for a year.
Only problem: the government in question has just lost its leader, Shinzo Abe, forced to abandon his chair as Prime Minister for health reasons. His successor is not yet known. It is therefore difficult for John Coates and others to accurately measure the level of motivation of the Japanese authorities given the scale of the Olympic project.
And yet, John Coates insists. “ Before COVID-19, Thomas Bach said it was the best prepared Games we had ever seen, venues were almost all completed, explained the Australian during his telephone interview with theAFP. They are now finished, the village is incredible. Everything is fine. »
Really ? In Japan, the signals alternate from red to orange, but never turn green. Public opinion, regularly surveyed by the national media, is increasingly in favor of a new postponement, or even a cancellation. Companies, too, now say that the majority are hostile to holding the Games next summer.
But John Coates believes in miracles. Above all, he imagines a scenario where the Tokyo Games would see participants, athletes or managers, from all over the world coexisting on the competition sites and in the Olympic village. “ In some countries, the health situation will be under control, in others not., anticipates the Australian leader. So we will have athletes coming from places where it is under control and others where it is not. The task for the Japanese now is to examine all the countermeasures that will be necessary for the Games to take place. No less than 206 teams are entered. There is therefore an immense task being carried out on the Japanese side. »
Huge, indeed. And even impossible, for part of the scientific community. In recent months, many epidemiology experts have suggested that it would be illusory to imagine organizing the Tokyo Games if the pandemic is not contained. As for the possibility of a vaccine, it remains very uncertain on a global scale before the summer of 2021.
Nevertheless, John Coates' words at least had the merit of reassuring the markets. According to Blomberg, the action of the Japanese group Dentsu, responsible for supporting the organizers in their marketing program, increased by 7,1% on Monday September 7. Its biggest increase since June 16.
