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Before the International Olympic Committee and
Japanese government decided to postpone the Games last year due
to fears over the coronavirus pandemic, Greece's Stefanidi
accused organisers of risking athletes' safety and demanded a
plan B.
Days later, organisers did postpone last year's Games, which are
now set to begin on July 23.
However, Stefanidi told Kyodo News in an interview published on
Sunday, that the Games should now go ahead.
"I think that it's a very different situation than what we had
last year, where we didn't really know anything about the
virus," the reigning pole vault Olympic champion said.
"If we have to have the Olympics without spectators, I would
prefer that than not having the games at all," she added.
"If we can have the Olympics with some spectators, that will be
better, of course ... For me the worst case scenario would be to
completely cancel."
Stefanidi, a member of World Athletics' Athletes' Commission,
said she believed there had been a change of attitude amongst
many of the 15,000 athletes preparing to compete in Tokyo.
Last year, she said that about 80 percent of World Athletics
athletes surveyed supported either cancelling or postponing the
Tokyo Olympics.
"But if we do this (survey) again, it will be reversed, then 80
percent of the athletes would want the Olympics to go ahead,"
she said.
A survey of the general public in Japan by the Japan Press
Research Institute on Saturday showed that 38% of respondents
said the Tokyo Games should be cancelled while 34% said the
events should be postponed again.
(Reporting by Jack Tarrant; editing by Richard Pullin)
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