(ATR) U.S. President Joe Biden expresses hope for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics just five months away, but says science will guide what happens.
"Imagine all those Olympians who work for four years, four years for one shot and all of a sudden that opportunity gets lost," Biden said in an interview by broadcaster Jim Gray during the half time of the Super Bowl in Tampa Feb. 8.
"They are the people that I feel such pain for, but we have to do it based on the science. We are a science-driven administration, I think the rest of the world's there too, I hope we can play, I hope it's possible, but it remains to be seen," Biden said in his first on-the-record remarks about Tokyo since his inauguration in January.
Mr. Biden said Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was "working very hard to be in a position to be able to safely open the games and have the games, and I think that has to be based on science," said the president.
"Whether or not it is safe for that to occur. My prayer is that it will be," he said.
The U.S. will send the largest team to Tokyo and leaders of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee have maintained plans to send that team to Japan.
Mori Struggles to Keep Post, Suga Government Underwater
Tokyo 2020 President YoshiroMori may be caught in a death spiral following his comments about women during a meeting of the Japanese Olympic Committee Feb. 3.
Mori, 83, complained that women talk too much during meetings. The uproar over his sexist remarks includes a petition calling for his resignation with more than 100,000 signatures. A survey published over the weekend showed 60 percent of those polled believe the Mori is not qualified to lead the Olympics.
The former prime minister has apologized for the comments and said he initially considered resigning. Mori is one of the last figures in the leadership of Tokyo 2020 who have been with the project since the days of bidding for the Games seven years ago.
But with sagging public support for the Olympics in Japan, as well as for the government led by current Prime Minister Suga, changes could be coming.
Speaking Monday in a parliamentary committee hearing, Suga said Mori’s remarks were not in Japan’s national interests. But Suga said it wasn’t his place to decide Mori’s future with the organizing committee.
Suga, who took over the government last year when Shinzo Abe resigned, is losing public support along with the Olympics. The latest polling gives his cabinet a 38 percent approval rating, a slide of more than two percentage points from last month.
The same survey says 47 percent of the respondents think the Games should be postponed again, with 35 percent calling for cancelling the Olympics.
Reported by Ed Hula.