Bach gives pep talk to Tokyo Olympic organizers, Koike

Put your mask on Mori

Sooner or later, perhaps, sooner rather than later, the Government of Japan will pull the rug from under, IOC President Thomas Bach, pompous arrogance.

“In the first couple months of next year we will have different vaccines." Bach said. “They will be available in very considerable doses.”

Bach said this could amount to “hundreds of millions of doses being available already in the first half of the next year.”

A quite frankly ludicrous statement, is Bach seriously suggesting that athletes, and spectators are to be cajoled/wheedled into and vacation program so to watch a sporting event, and pay for the privilege?

Bonkers Bach! ....

JUST GIVE UP ALREADY!

The money would be best spent on dealing with this virus and the outcome and NOT in 'games' that won't help the world in any way, shape or form except padding the pockets of those in media and promotions. They already have enough going on and are not affected by this virus as bad news sells.

How about some good news for once? Cancel these games and focus on a way to deal with this virus, a cure and a concerted effort for recovery.

Wow...I had no idea Thomas Bach had such medical qualifications. I guess I should have been listening to him all this time.

Seriously though, I have my doubts whether having a vaccine available in the first half of 2021 will "normalize" everything soon enough to have a successful 2021 Olympics in July. Sounds awfully optimistic to me.

I wonder if he asked that another bag of cash be sent to him?

move on. The majority of Japanese people think it's a bad idea now. MORI Yoshiro may not get to see the games in Japan sadly.

“The money would be best spent on dealing with this virus and the outcome and NOT in 'games' that won't help the world in any way, shape or form except padding the pockets of those in media and promotions.t”

The expected Olympic boom had added tens of thousands of jobs to Tokyo’s economy, thousands of small businesses were formed expecting the games to be a springboard. Not to mention the investments made by thousands of small businesses who were hoping the games would lead to more traffic for themselves.

When you say “The money would be best spent...” whose money are you talking about? If it is not your money, it’s none of your business. If it is tax money, where does that come from? If people are being put out of work and businesses are closing, where is the tax money to come from?

As for COVID 19 in Japan, it has sickened and killed far less than the common flu this year.

IOC President Thomas Bach, on the screen, speaks remotely during an online meeting focused on how to hold the delayed Tokyo Games, in Tokyo, Thursday. At left is Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee President Yoshiro Mori and at right, Tokyo Gov Yuriko Koike

Only those three? Where's support from sponsors, athletes and spectators?

Put your mask on Mori

and he's in charge of the Olympics...

I'm sick and tired of the Olympics.

Ditto

JUST GIVE UP ALREADY!

The money would be best spent on dealing with this virus and the outcome and NOT in 'games' that won't help the world in any way, shape or form except padding the pockets of those in media and promotions. They already have enough going on and are not affected by this virus as bad news sells.

How about some good news for once? Cancel these games and focus on a way to deal with this virus, a cure and a concerted effort for recovery.

exactly

Man, talk about corruption! Seeing the scumbags in charge of the games, I wouldn't want them to happen even if it becomes safe, which I don't think it will.

Medical workers around the world and the critically vulnerable should be vaccinated first, no question. Healthy young people last.

Unless athletes are travelling around by January competing in lead-up events (it takes at least 6 months of competition to peak) then most of the events at the Games will be just non-competitive exhibitions. Except I guess for golf, tennis and a few others where limited comps are already taking place.

If it goes ahead, you will see some of the slowest times in races in many years. My gut feeling now is the Games cannot be held. Tokyo 2024 has a nice ring to it.

The look on both Mori and Koike's faces says it all....sick and tired of dealing with the Corona vs Oly's Games...Jus do the right thing for humanity sakes and cancel the  Oly's...

I am aware that it has been said that the Olympics are held here in 2021 or just cancelled - but surely this is the time for the IOC to reset the calendar and push everyone back 4 years. Tokyo 2024 does have a good ring to it. The infrastructure has been bought and paid for. In the current economic climate (extremely grim) you would think that both Paris AND Los Angeles would be very grateful for 4 year delay. Personally, I think we are much further away from a PROVEN long term vaccine that anybody would care to admit and its doubtful that even the 2022 Winter Olympics will be able to take place with a meaningful amount of overseas participants and spectators.

No, don't vaccinate the athletes and medical staff first. The first should be IOC, JOC, the pharma CEOs, and Abe, Suga, Nishimura and all the LDP diet members. Back when abe tried to prove that Fukushima produce was safe he gave several performances and ate and drank in front of the cameras. I want to see it again, this time with injections. The olympics shouldn't be a priority over public health.

If they come up with a vaccine it’s simply going to be a placebo. How is it possible no one has been able to create a coronavirus vaccine before when there was SARS and MERS which were far more deadly. Suddenly now we can whip them out in record time and not just one according to Bach but multiple vaccines! Phooey!

How do they test and distinguish between folk who get the vaccine and still get COVID-19 and those that don’t vaccinate and subsequently get it? Has all that been set up and tried and tested clinical procedure and world wide data collection and analysis prior to the administration of these vaccines. Ahhh yes I thought not!

They are only producing a vaccine to get populations moving again and returning to normal regardless of if it actually works. Doctors now know how to get most healthy patients through the virus using techniques gathered over the last 9 months with death rates of known infections dropping dramatically but big pharmaceutical companies still need to cash in! We could pretty much return to normal with washing hands , using masks and above all using common sense. It’s worked perfectly fine up until now!

IOC and Tokyo should settle on the next Olympics being 2024. That would allow sufficient time for the world to return to normal, and would be also be a great global human celebration.

Disappointment.

I am beginning to worry about the beautiful Koike sans health, seriously.

I want her to have time off to refocus on what is good for her.

Bach needs to back off and stay out of Tokyo.

The IOC once again misses a great chance to leave by its own charters and mission statement.

There is nothing left but egocentrism and greed. The Olympics should be an example of global cooperation, friendship and selfishness. Instead they are only a sad caricature of what they were. An anachronistic event which has lost its reason of existence in its current form and serves only the IOC and NOC as porkbelly institutions.

The Games must be slimmed down drastically and the IOC completely restructured but i don’t hold my breath for that to happen.

2 billion Yen missing, out of the TOC accounts, distributed overseas before they won the bid, and unable to disclose where it has gone due to so-called confidentiality agreements.

Not a whisper from the IOC, or anyone else, except for the Japan Today article yesterday.

The Lords of the Rings and their greed for gold...

Unproven(apart from serious side effects) vaccine, vaccine corruption(Uk Senior Medical Advisor holds £600000 in shares of SkG vaccines which he is as per his job, required to set which vaccine is approved), no mention of the $3.5m bribe paid to get the damn thing, Olympics contraction costs 3 times estimated, and many countries admitting they are still in first wave infection.

if the Olympics go ahead all SDF army must prevent anybody entering or leaving Tokyo and a 3 month lockdown after. Fines of ¥100000 for anybody leaving or entering Tokyo. Maximum event crowd limited to 500 with 2 meter social distancing. Then Go Ahead.

@Goodlucktoyou: Hysterical Answer.

Yes - The UK Senior Medical Advisor hods shares in Glaxo! He used to work there, so its hardly surprising. It is is not a conflict of interest. and at the end of the day its just 600,000 Pounds of options. He IS entitled to a pension. Do your research on Sir Patrick before you jump to conclusions.

Yes - The Olympics are over budget - which of the last few Olympics hasn't been? But the bulk of the money has already been spent amyway. Why not just hold it in 2024 instead? Your conditions for holding it would never be agreed on as you well know..a 3 month lockdown afterwards? Honesty, I'm struggling not to fall off my seat reading this.

Not interested in the Olympics at all. I don't care how fast humans can run or swim or whatever (other animals on the Earth are better at those activities anyway). Much more interested in how little tax money governments should be wasting. Wish there was a "Government Spending Olympics." Gold medal to the government that is the most fiscally sound.

To be very very frank i give the vaccines to the front line n vulnerable first.Olympic games are history now for the moment.

Burn more tax money into this nonsense Olympic idea... How about running marathon with face mask... Lol

Not sure the Olympics should go ahead. Certainly not in July of next year. There's too much uncertaintly and lives at stake.

I do feel sorry for all the workers on the project, some of whom have been unable to see their families for many months.

But July is way too optimistic.

And I say that as someone who was very much looking forward to the Games.

"now be good children and pay attention to teacher" the 'pep talk' doesn't seem to be working....

Bach is talking rubbish. If a viable vaccine was available by next year priority should go to the elderly, vulnerable and key workers. The vaccine being developed in the U.K. is planning last stage human trials in January, so it’s doubtful that will be available to the public in such huge numbers in the time scale Bach predicts. Perhaps he’s talking about the vaccines developed in Russia and China, the ones they are mass testing on the unsuspecting public.

IOC and Tokyo should settle on the next Olympics being 2024.

I think Paris would object given how much they have invested in the games already. 2028 would be better as LA is probably going to be either a) on fire b) dealing with a civil war c) paying to recover from a and b.

people are going to more concerned with their lives than the Olympics. This rich world frill is over

@simon g: How far are they into construction? Your answer is quite sensible until you mention LA - then its just another nonsense reply trying to wind people up.

Mr. Mori could care less with the issue at hand based on his snapshot not wearing a mask. Just another circus show on money without end in sight - health is far fetched.

I'm just wondering if top athletes are willing to get vaccinated with a vaccine for which all side effects will not be known for a few years, just to attend the Olympics?

Or, it may sound ugly but, will they be housed like racehorses?

Yes - The Olympics are over budget - which of the last few Olympics hasn't been? But the bulk of the money has already been spent amyway. 

Really? Still being spent without limits.

Agree, 2024 is the only compromise.

Just to ground Mr. Bach in present realities:

In Europe, the pandemic is worse now than at the March peak in several member countries, the European Union warned, as governments reimpose drastic measures. New infections are soaring once again, prompting the bloc’s disease control agency to flag seven countries of “high concern”. The EU’s health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, said in “some member states, the situation is now even worse than during the peak in March”.

Brazil cancelled its carnival parade, which usually takes place in February, for the first time in 100 years. Rio’s League of Samba Schools, LIESA, announced that the spread of the coronavirus had made it impossible to safely hold the traditional event.Rio’s authorities are yet to announce a decision about the carnival street parties that also take place across the city. But its tourism promotion agency said in a statement to the Associated Press on 17 September that without a coronavirus vaccine, it was uncertain when large public events could resume.

France set a new record for daily new cases. Health authorities reported 16,096 new confirmed cases on Thursday, a significant increase on the previous record of 13,498 and setting a fourth all-time high of daily additional infections in eight days.

The global death toll passed 980,000 on Friday, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. With the number of deaths confirmed daily averaging more than 5,000, it looks likely the toll will pass 1 million within days. There are 32m cases worldwide.

India records 86,052 new cases. India’s coronavirus case tally surged to 5.82 million after it recorded 86,052 new infections in the last 24 hours, data from the health ministry showed on Friday. India has regularly been confirming daily case numbers above 80,000 since late August, according to Johns Hopkins University. A total of 1,141 people died of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, the ministry said, taking mortalities to 92,290, which is a relatively low 1.6% of all cases. Globally, India has the second-highest number of coronavirus cases, behind the United States where infections neared 7m on Thursday.

The United states is currently averaging 40,000 new infections per day. Earlier in the week, death toll in the United States, which has suffered more coronavirus-related deaths than any other country, passed 200,000. The number of cases is nearing 7m.

Bach Off !

No pep, no nothing.

cringe, pep talks by northern euros are the most depressing things

The expected Olympic boom had added tens of thousands of jobs to Tokyo’s economy, thousands of small businesses were formed expecting the games to be a springboard. Not to mention the investments made by thousands of small businesses who were hoping the games would lead to more traffic for themselves.

When you say “The money would be best spent...” whose money are you talking about? If it is not your money, it’s none of your business. If it is tax money, where does that come from? If people are being put out of work and businesses are closing, where is the tax money to come from?

As for COVID 19 in Japan, it has sickened and killed far less than the common flu this year.

Your opinions lack validity. Nor are your assertions factual. Tens of thousands of jobs: doing exactly what and for how long? Thousands of small businesses were hoping the games would lead to more traffic: that is simply conjecture without proof. The majority of companies hoping to profit are large corporate entities, that are intrusive in local and regional economies and impinge on small local business, in fact are destructive of local economies. Marriot and Mori Trust are two examples. Another: NTTDocomo is displacing local bike rental shops with a strategy to capitalize on the touron boom prior and during the Olympics. There are myriad and numerous examples.

Whose money is it? What a trope. As if it is your business and the individual posting a more charitable use of funds is to be chided by the likes of your less than admirable understanding.

The yen is a fiat currency - which allows an offset to a lack of tax revenues. Which is where the money comes from when those revenues are diminished.

As for SARSCoV-2, it kills one person every fifteen seconds. And it is very deadly, more so than the flu. The toll in Japan has yet to be established as the contagion continues onward, well into next year. How many people has the flu killed this summer?

Koike and Mori are NOT feeling the pep so much.

Look at those faces. LOL

Sorry to see it under Japan's watch but if there is any positive outcome of the Pandemic it's about dealing with reality and one of those realities is that the Olympics are over. Not just now but also for the upcoming events in China. There's no way the world will accept China anymore either. IOC has lost its way and the "Olympic Movement" canard has already come to its end. Tokyo needs to move and receive the insurance money to pay back itself and its backers.