"JOC will do everything we can to hold safe tokyo 2020 olympics", says president

Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) President Yasuhiro Yamashita said he would like to do everything he can to support the athletes through uncertain times due to the widespread of COVID-19 ahead of the 2020 games next year.

"No one can predict the situation in three months, half a year or a month later," said Yamashita during a press conference held in Tokyo.  "All I can say is that JOC will do everything we can to hold a safe and secure Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics."

Yamashita he Japanese public. He added that he would not change Japan's current goal of winning thirty gold medals, believing that Japanese top athletes can achieve such goal if they can perform their best and prepare well for the games next year.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed last month and moved to a new slot of 23rd July to 8th August 2021.

So far local organizers and the IOC have talked only vaguely in public about how the games can be held. They've proposed cutting out frills and simplifying, but have said the sports will be unchanged with 11,000 athletes competing from 206 national Olympic committees.