US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo could be postponed for a year, as organizers insist the Games will go ahead despite the coronavirus outbreak.
"Maybe they postpone it for a year," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "It's a shame" but "I like that better than I like having empty stadiums," he said.
There is growing concern that the Tokyo Games, scheduled for July 24-August 9, will be either postponed or even cancelled as the outbreak of COVID-19 spreads.
A multitude of sporting events have been either cancelled or postponed as public health authorities worldwide move to contain the virus, of which there have been more than 127,000 cases recorded in 115 countries and territories, killing 4,687 people, according to an AFP tally.
World Athletics had already been forced to postpone the world indoor championships in the Chinese city of Nanjing until March 2021. The world half-marathon champs in Poland have been pushed back to October and a number of marathons across the world have been cancelled.
But Tokyo Olympics organisers received a boost Thursday with World Athletics president Sebastian Coe's assumption that track and field would take place at the Games.
Meanwhile, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's communications chief, who met Trump during an official weekend visit to the US leader's Florida resort, has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the government said on Thursday.
The Brazilian president's office "has taken and is taking all necessary preventive measures to protect the health of the president and all staff that traveled with him to the United States" last Saturday to Tuesday, it said in a statement, confirming the far-right government's chief spokesman, Fabio Wajngarten, had tested positive for COVID-19.
Wajngarten had posted a picture of himself meeting Trump on Instagram on Saturday, both with hats reading "Make Brazil Great Again."
Vice President Mike Pence was also in the photograph.
(With AFP inputs)
