Coronavirus: IOC will ensure safety of athletes and officials at Olympics Games- GOC President

Ghana Olympic Committee(GOC) President, Ben Nunoo Mensah says the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will ensure the safety of athletes, officials before they stage this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.

The Olympic games are in limbo due to the coronavirus outbreak across the globe, with organizers waiting for the outcome of the pandemic to either postpone the event or cancel it entirely.

According to Mr. Nunoo Mensah, after the last meeting held between all presidents of the various federations, the IOC is studying the situation and will decide on whether the games will go ahead or not.

“Within the next four (4) months anything can happen, so the IOC is waiting.

“Based on the advice of the Taskforce which involves the World Health Organization (WHO), we will determine if the games will come on or not”, he told Happy FM.

“Yesterday we had a teleconference with the IOC president and some presidents expressed concerns about the virus”.

He further said, the health of the athletes and officials is paramount to the IOC which will determine if the games will be held or not.

“Most of the athletes are going to come from Europe, and if the problem persists we don’t know what will happen.

“IOC claims they are studying the situation and will ensure they will not do anything to harm athletes or fans coming to the games. We will not make a decision that will put any athlete or official at risk”.

Some athletes are yet to qualify for the Olympics games and he explained that measures have been put in place to ensure all qualifying tournaments, and competitions that have been canceled due to the coronavirus will be held at a later date to ensure athletes get a chance to participate.

“All the qualifying series that were supposed to come on will be rescheduled to another date. Or a quota system will be used to pick athletes for the games. 43% qualifiers are yet to take place”.

He advised Ghanaians to protect themselves and practice good hygiene to be safe from the Covid-19.