TOKYO (AP) – The Tokyo Olympics need new dates for the opening and closing ceremonies in 2021.
Nothing much can get done until those dates are worked out by the International Olympic Committee, the Japanese government and Tokyo organizers.
“We must decide this soon, otherwise it will be hard to decide on other things to follow,” Toshiro Muto, the CEO of the organizing committee, told his 30 senior directors – all men but one – seated in a large meeting room Thursday.
Two days after the unprecedented postponement was announced, the group gathered for the first meeting of what is being called the “Tokyo 2020 New Launch Task Force.” They must put the next Summer Olympics back together after they were torn apart by the coronavirus pandemic.
Muto and the president of the organizing committee, Yoshiro Mori, each gave pep speeches. Mori, an 82-year-old former Japanese prime minister, drew on war memories from his youth to summon the resolve to redo in a few months what was seven years in the planning.