With COVID-19 infection numbers again spiking worldwide, the future of global sporting events has again been thrown into question.
Even the Olympics weren’t immune to COVID, as the 2020 Tokyo games were postponed until July 2021.
1170 SEN’s Andrew Voss has been closely tracking Tokyo’s COVID case numbers over the past week, and believes the International Olympic Committee has cause for concern.
Voss has cast doubt over Tokyo’s ability to host the games, and has instead floated the option of the 2021 games to happen right here, in Australia.
“One country that has been relatively unscathed has been Japan, but still the Olympics was postponed from this year, and set for July 23 next year through until August 8,” Voss said on 1170 SEN Breakfast.
“I have been monitoring infection rate in Tokyo the whole way along, and I’m sure the IOC has been doing the same.
“In the past week, the infection rate for Tokyo is: Monday 102 positive cases, Tuesday 158, Wednesday 171, Thursday 221 positive cases.
“That’s more than double the cases in the city of Tokyo in the space of four days, the city that’s hosting the games.
“If that continues to climb, I’m saying sooner rather than later, to give certainty to some athletes around the world about the rescheduled 2020 games, we can’t leave it in limbo and we need to lock it in.
"The only place I believe that can host the Olympics games, that we can announce with absolute clarity and confirmation right now, is right here, Australia.
“I’m starting the quest today, that it’s not just Sydney hosting the Olympic games, but it’s right along the Eastern seaboard.
“That’s Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne hosting the games. We could have three opening ceremonies simultaneously.
“You could bring the athletes out three months in advance, and by December this year, give them a goal and some certainty where the Olympics will be.
“We can have crowds, who wants to have an Olympics with no crowds?
“It will be great for our economy, great for business.
“We can do it Australia.
“My message to the IOC is we’re here, and we’re ready.”
Without an Olympic village ready to go, Vossy even brought up a unique way for Australian’s to host international athletes.
You can listen to the full Vossy’s verdict about the Olympic games at the audio player below: