バッハＩＯＣ会長、７月１２日にも来日へ　五輪直前、コーツ氏が明かす

　国際オリンピック委員会（ＩＯＣ）のバッハ会長が、東京五輪開幕前の７月１２日にも来日することが分かった。コーツ調整委員長が１９日付で大会関係者向けに宛てた書簡で明らかにした。
　五輪は７月２３日開幕。直前にはＩＯＣの理事会、総会など一連の会議が東京で開かれる。その日程に先立って来日する予定を示し、中止を含めた開催反対の声が国内外で高まる中で予定通りの五輪開催を訴える狙いがあるとみられる。　
　バッハ会長は広島県で聖火リレーが行われた１７、１８日に合わせて来日する予定だったが、国内で新型コロナウイルスの感染が拡大し、東京都などへの緊急事態宣言が延長されたため断念した。
　コーツ調整委員長は、大会準備のため自身は６月１５日に来日する予定だと明らかにした。（時事）（2021/05/20-11:13）

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach plans to visit Japan on July 12, prior to the July 23 opening of the Tokyo Olympic Games, it has been learned.
   The plan was shown in letters sent to people related to the Olympics from John Coates, head of the IOC Coordination Commission for the Tokyo Games. The letters were dated Wednesday.
   Bach's envisioned visit to Japan would also precede a series of meetings, such as an IOC executive board meeting, planned to be held in Tokyo before the start of the Olympics.
   Through the visit, Bach apparently aims to reiterate his resolve to hold the games as planned while calls for canceling or further postponing the sporting event are growing both in and outside Japan amid the continuing spread of the novel coronavirus around the world.
   Initially, the IOC leader was expected to visit Japan in line with the Olympic torch relay in the western prefecture of Hiroshima, which had been scheduled for Monday and Tuesday this week. The visit has been delayed, however, due to the extension of the Japanese government's third novel coronavirus state of emergency.