Updated March 12, 2020 10:52:05

Photo: Mr Takahashi said that the financial damage from cancelling the Games or holding them without spectators would be too great. (Reuters: Athit Perawongmetha)

A delay of one or two years would be the "most feasible" option if the Tokyo Olympics cannot be held as planned this year due to the global coronavirus outbreak, a member of the organising committee's executive board has said.

But the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Wednesday "the preparations for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 are continuing as planned".

Haruyuki Takahashi, one of more than two dozen members of the Tokyo 2020 executive board, who suggested the delay, said the Tokyo 2020 organisers had just started looking at scenarios for how the virus could affect the Games.

Mr Takahashi has earlier told the Wall Street Journal that the board had not discussed the impact of the virus, having last met in December before the epidemic spread.

Organisers have been pushing a consistent message that the Games would not be cancelled or postponed but sponsors who have pumped in billions of dollars have grown increasingly nervous about how the coronavirus outbreak will impact the event.

Meanwhile, the final decision over the Tokyo Olympics belongs to the powerful International Olympic Committee chief (IOC), Thomas Bach.

Mr Bach gave his unequivocal backing to the Games ahead at last week's committee executive board meeting in Switzerland.

Photo: President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach will make the final decision on when the Games will open. (Reuters: Denis Balibouse)

"I would like to encourage all the athletes to continue their preparation for the Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020 with great confidence and full steam," he said.

"From our side, we will continue to support the athletes and the national Olympic committees."

Last Thursday, Olympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto said "cancellation or delay of the Games would be unacceptable for the athletes".

She said the Government and the city of Tokyo were both committed to the Games starting on time.

However, Mr Takahashi told Reuters that the financial damage from cancelling the Games or holding them without spectators would be too great, while a delay of less than a year would clash with other major professional sports schedules.

"We need to start preparing for any possibility. If the Games can't be held in the summer, a delay of one or two years would be most feasible," Mr Takahashi said

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The head of the Tokyo Games organising committee, Yoshiro Mori, publicly chided Mr Takahashi for those comments, saying his suggestion was "outrageous".

Experts say a one-year postponement to the same time next year would pose major logistical problems but was doable for broadcasters because it fits into their generally open summer schedule.

Companies such as Coca-Cola, Bridgestone, Canon, Toyota Motor and Panasonic sponsor the Games, and Japanese brands have for decades been some of the most generous.

Coronavirus is now hitting Europe and the Middle East. Experts say we all need to start preparing for things to get worse.

The coronavirus has infected more than 116,000 people and killed more than 4,000 around the world since it surfaced in China late last year.

Japan has reported nearly 1,300 cases, including about 700 from a cruise ship that was quarantined near Tokyo last month.

On Tuesday, it saw the biggest number of infections in a single day, of 59 cases, according to public broadcaster NHK.

With every new spike in the figures, speculation has swirled that the Tokyo 2020 Games, due to open on July 24, could be cancelled, delayed, or held without spectators, like many pre-Olympic qualifiers and other unrelated sports events have been in the run-up.

Reuters

Topics: health, disease-control, diseases-and-disorders, sport, olympics-summer, japan

First posted March 11, 2020 18:17:13