"But if you are going to carry on with the original objective (to stage the Games) there is no reason to issue a statement because you have already done that over the past several weeks. You have the prime minister talking about postponement, so you then come to the P word, 'postponement', and the four-week delay is probably what you need to come up with a preliminary plan in favour of the postponement. "It is a general sort of language but that's what you do if you are an international organisation trying to leave yourself as much flexibility as you can." Pound explained that in understanding the IOC message there is a need to connect the dots. Pound also noted that the IOC would have accomplished little, and probably created more chaos, if it had said there was a plan to postpone the Games and hold them next year, without actually having one in place.

Source: International New York Times March 23, 2020 22:41 UTC