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| Thomas Bach IOC Chair. © AFP=News1 |
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will hold the 137th regular general meeting through a non-face-to-face video conference for three days starting on the 10th (hereinafter referred to as Korean time).
The IOC General Assembly, which starts at 8 p.m. on the 10th, will mainly discuss issues related to the Tokyo Olympics scheduled for July. It is also decided whether IOC chairman Thomas Bach will be re-elected.
In Korea, IOC President Lee Ki-heung and IOC member Yoo Seung-min (Chairman of the Korea Table Tennis Association) participate in the IOC regular general meeting.
According to’Inside the Games’, which mainly deals with the news of the Olympics, it will be decided whether or not Chairman Bach will be re-elected at this general meeting. Chairman Bach became the head of the IOC in October 2013 after serving as Vice-Chairman of the IOC.
The point of interest is whether or not the audience can be accommodated at the Tokyo Olympics.
According to Japan’s Kyodo News Agency on the previous day (9th), the Japanese government agreed to some extent to hold the tournament without foreign spectators at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games (Olympics for the Disabled).
With the recent emergence of the COVID-19 mutant virus around the world, it is interpreted as a measure to minimize the risk.
An official from the Korea Sports Association said, “We expect the IOC to discuss ways to accommodate the audience at the general meeting on the premise that the (Olympic) will be held.”
Furthermore, Chairman Bach is expected to actively appeal that the Organizing Committee of the Tokyo Olympics in Japan is preparing well for a safe tournament. It is predicted that each country will seek cooperation from the National Olympic Committee (NOC) so that the Tokyo Olympics can be held successfully.
Meanwhile, the IOC said it plans to determine whether the Tokyo Olympics will be accepted by overseas audiences by the end of March. Officials from the organizing committee in Japan are hoping that the admission of the spectators in the stadium will be confirmed before the successive ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics held in Fukushima on the 25th.
The Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed for one year in the aftermath of last year’s novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), are scheduled to be held in Tokyo from July 23 to August 8.