But Coates, an IOC vice president and head of the Australian Olympic Committee, told the paper in a telephone interview from Switzerland that the IOC didn’t recognize the deadline and he thought Pound had backed away from it, too. There is four months to go,” Coates told the newspaper on Monday. That has caused postponements and uncertainty for qualifying in some Olympic sports, although the IOC and Tokyo organizers have consistently said the games will go ahead as scheduled. As for athletes traveling to Japan from affected countries, Coates said some national Olympic committees were already preparing. “They’re all basically in serious lockdown.”The Olympics open on July 24, followed by the Paralympics on Aug. 25.

Source: ABC News March 16, 2020 11:50 UTC