Tokyo governor assures safe 2020 Olympics

Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike has said next year's Olympics will be safe amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Iran PressAsia: She has pledged a "120% effort" to ensure the first-ever postponed Games can go ahead.

Koike said the city was committed to holding the event as a "symbol of human triumph" over the virus, but admitted it would be downsized.

"I will make a 120-percent effort," Koike said in an interview with AFP.

However, she declined to say how confident she was that the sporting extravaganza would open as planned.

Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 was postponed for the first time in their history. The Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will now be held on 23 July 2021.

On September 7, 2013, the International Olympic Committee awarded the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in 2020 to Tokyo, which was chosen over fellow Candidate Cities Istanbul and Madrid after two rounds of voting during the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires.

Tokyo 2020 became the first Olympics ever postponed in peacetime earlier this year as the coronavirus wreaked havoc across the globe, claiming lives and forcing the cancelation of sporting and cultural events.

The Olympics have previously only been canceled completely during periods of World War - in 1916, 1940 and 1944 - but never suspended or postponed. 

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