IOC President Thomas Bach Photo: AP file
tokyo 2020 olympics

Athletes should travel to Tokyo with full confidence: Bach

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Despicable comments from a greedy, money hungry and selfish man. He could not care less about the Japanese public, 60-80 percent of whom want this sick farce to end.

This should give all of us a lot of confidence that it's really about the athletes and about making the athletes feel comfortable and making the Japanese people feel comfortable.

Disgusting arrogance. The Japanese public are NOT comfortable with this, not that sick Bach cares one bit.

34 ( +39 / -5 )

Must be nice to live in an alternate universe. Meanwhile, some of us have lost income and loved ones during this pandemic.

36 ( +38 / -2 )

Reptilian

22 ( +25 / -3 )

"I got my two shots and I'm still in good shape."

How nice for you, Bach. I got another box of masks and hand wipes.

Maybe I'll see you on my crowded train commute.

30 ( +31 / -1 )

If only he lived in the real world, we could reach him !

18 ( +20 / -2 )

Shall we just laugh at them ? The strategy is clear, to antagonise the Japanese citizens into pressuring Suga and Tokyo Into cancelling so IOC gets the insurance money.

it is a sick and sad organisation the IOC but many thousands happy to play the game and eat their piece of the cake

14 ( +15 / -1 )

I blame the athletes now if there is a new strain, and for every death from June 20th on.

14 ( +16 / -2 )

Well, did we expect anything else for such a sociopath?

It is amazing we are to believe only the IOC and IOC experts.

We are Not to believe the New England journal of medicine report, not the BJM, not the Japanese doctors, nurses, 2 doctors associations in Japan.

We are only to believe the IOC.

13 ( +16 / -3 )

Olympic chief Thomas Bach has told athletes they should travel to Tokyo with "full confidence" that the delayed 2020 Games will be safe for competitors and not jeopardize the health of the Japanese people.

Weird how this contradicts SCIENCE! I didn't know Bach had a degress in Virusology!

10 ( +12 / -2 )

This is like saying that teams can be assured their uniforms can use cotton from the Xinjiang region at competitive prices and good quality. It may be true but still would completely miss the point of the criticism.

The people that will be put in danger are the citizens of the host city, a huge event with deficient biosafety measures, tens of thousands of unprotected volunteers commuting every day, and a barely coping public health system that is expected to get extra pressure from the season and even the pandemic even if the games are not held.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

I wrote to the IOC voicing my opposition, and got a boilerplate reply with the usual cr@p we read on here from one IOC stuffed shirt or another about the resilience of the Japanese people. Doubt if anyone read my msg, or beyond the first two lines, but anyway, I wrote back thusly, for what it's worth:

"A boilerplate press statement does not cover the points in my email.

Your 'playbook' has been excoriated as unscientific and wholly inadequate by the New England Journal of Medicine article, and the gamut of medical experts and medical associations in Japan, as well as other world authorities such as the British Medical Journal. You speak of the controls on athletes (despite cramming them 3 to a room, unlike your VIPS in their 5 star hotels at Japan taxpayer expense.). But most of the tens of thousands of people coming into Japan can skip quarantine, and have laughably lax controls on all but the athletes. All the Japanese athletes, 10s of thousands of volunteers, the tens of thousands of non-athletes, hospitality staff, drivers, cleaners etc who make your supposed 'bubble' meaningless, and who will be travelling back and forth all over the city and other locations daily, for the most part unvaccinated and untested, capable of spreading existing variants including the already endemic Brazilian, UK, Tokyo ones, and the fast spreading Indian one, creating perfect conditions to create a new Olympic strain, which will then be carried back all over the world, including to poorer countries whose health infrastructure can ill support it.

Of course you know this, so you want everyone coming to sign liability waivers, so it won't hit your bottom line. 

You are displaying contempt for ordinary Japanese. We are for the most part unvaccinated, mostly denied testing unless we can fork out 30,000 yen for a private, and some here have even been denied medical attention because the health system is being overwhelmed. Yet your athletes will get priority testing, and take away precious medical resources from us residents. You are disrespecting the hard working Japanese doctors and nurses who are putting their lives on the line fighting this pandemic. We will be left living and dying with the consequences if you bring this dangerous circus to town. And of course we the Japanese residents will be left with the tab for your reckless stupidity.

If you go ahead with this dangerous farce, your legacy will be to preside over the most disastrous Games in history, quite likely marked by a virus variant which should be named, appropriately, in your honour.

25 ( +25 / -0 )

“*Who, Me? I’ve postponed & cancelled twice since Nov 17, 2020*.

*- Bach: “Athletes should travel to Tokyo with full confidence” -*

(“Can’t risk ‘getting sick’ before the games so I show my face around there, for now.”)

10 ( +10 / -0 )

Coming soon to a pandemic near you: The Bach variant

12 ( +12 / -0 )

This is coming from the man who canceled his trip here this month out of safety concerns for himself.

"Tokyo is the best prepared Olympic city ever and this relates particularly to the focus they are putting on the athletes and the athletes' experience,"

Well isn’t that nice If Tokyo was the best suited city to host the games because of the extended precautions and safety measures in place for everyone else other than the athletes we wouldn’t be in this situation right now to begin with we would be at 40-50% vaccinated like most developed countries.

“ making the athletes feel comfortable and making the Japanese people feel comfortable.”

Well clearly 80% of the Japanese public don’t feel comfortable and have voiced that.

14 ( +14 / -0 )

"You can travel to Japan in full confidence but, before you do so, please sign this little virus waiver document that releases the IOC from any responsibility if you get sick".

https://japantoday.com/category/tokyo-2020-olympics/ioc-tries-to-reassure-olympic-athletes-over-virus-waiver

15 ( +15 / -0 )

Haha!!!!

Be confident.....but first sign this document releasing us and Japanese organizers of liability if you are permanently damaged or die from Covid. After signing please travel with confidence.

These sick narcissistic arrogant and uneducated people amaze me.

He should also add, “By the way, Japanese citizens and residents, we do not care at all about you.”

17 ( +17 / -0 )

However, make sure you sign the waiver so that if you do obtain COVID 19, it's not our problem. It's yours.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

@zoroto

I really hope I won't run into him while he is in Tokyo

In case you will run into him, what will you do?

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

Disgusting

7 ( +7 / -0 )

if they’re vaccinated they don’t care. NPB, MLB NBA etc. competing everyday?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Nice job, as_the_crow_flies, you are amazing.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Crow,

would love to see any response you get,......if the IOC has the GUYS to respond to you!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

"Tokyo is the best prepared Olympic city ever and this relates particularly to the focus they are putting on the athletes and the athletes' experience," the German told around 2,000 athletes and Olympic officials.

WOW! I seriously hope this joker is held responsible for all the lies he's giving. Has he been taking advice from Trump?

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Enough complaining. Take some action!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

would love to see any response you get,......if the IOC has the GUYS to respond to you!

I'll definitely post if I get one. I'm expecting exactly the same text as I got today;) which will at least tell me they haven't read it.

It would be really good to write to individual national teams, as it is possible that some in each country, particularly the athletes themselves, don't realise the situation and think everything is actually under control here. It will take some rich country governments pulling out to have any impact, as they never gave a stuff about the small fry. Sick as I feel about our situation here, countries that have more fragile health systems risk a catastrophe.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Athletes - Tell your countries that you want to postpone the Olympics just one more year. Come here next year when everyone is vaccinated and it is safe.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Olympic chief Thomas Bach has told athletes they should travel to Tokyo with "full confidence" that the delayed 2020 Games will be safe for competitors

Safe for competitors, how about the Japanese people, the doctors, the police, security, all support staff? You also giving your "full confidence" approval to them!?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Athletes should travel to Tokyo with full confidence: Bach

However all must sign virus liability waiver.

loony tunes!

7 ( +7 / -0 )

The IOC Virus begins in …

2 ( +2 / -0 )

who cares about this old fart he will naturally kick the bucket evententually and maybe his las onlympic is Tokyo... called GREED,

1 ( +1 / -0 )

No doubt Back will say Olympics is okay whatever even if M9.0 earthquake hit Tokyo or Mt. Fuji erupted and a lot of ashes flew over all Kanto area.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Sounds like Bach subscribes to the Übermensch theory of the strong will be Ok and I doubt he care in the slightest about the old, sick or the peasants.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Athletes should travel to Tokyo with full confidence: Bach

So.... no masks, eh?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Postpone the Olympics until next year. Have the Summer & Winter Olympics in 2022 make sure that Japan has a plan in place to get everyone vaccinated. Then the athletes can come to Japan with confidence:

5 ( +5 / -0 )

@as_the_crow_flies

Magnificent!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Hubris and greed, plain and simple.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

How can they be confident?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The IOC show contempt for human well-being & human life itself.

The Dollar, the cash, this is what the IOC cares about.

Tell a lie often enough, the liar will believe it.

Recent history has shown us that.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

It's ironic that I keep reading comments saying that athletes will bring the virus here and infect people.

The virus is already here.

Those coming over will be the only ones vaccinated and tested. I would have more confidence to be around them than I would to get on the Tokyo metro at 08:00 on Monday morning and mix with an unvaccinated and a vastly under tested population.

If anything, the athletes are at likely to catch the virus from the public in Tokyo, not the other way around.

Governments are not vaccinating their athletes to protect us in Japan, it's to protect the athletes from us!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

harjinderaheerToday  12:12 am JST

Postpone the Olympics until next year. Have the Summer & Winter Olympics in 2022 make sure that Japan has a plan in place to get everyone vaccinated. Then the athletes can come to Japan with confidence:

Exactly. Those just screaming "cancel it" are not helping a reasoned debate on what we should do.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Travel with confidence, just like he did. Oh, wait . . .

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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