IOC’s Dick Pound says Covid-19 is a real concern for Beijing 2022 but only a ‘slim chance’ Winter Games will be cancelled or postponed

Pound is the first high-profile member of the IOC to publicly talk about the coronavirus threat to the Winter Olympics, though he is confident the Games will go ahead

Canadian Olympic Committee CEO David Shoemaker said he was “worried” about the Winter Olympics taking place because of the global surge in Omicron cases

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International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound (left) speaking to journalists in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 10:56am, 4 Jan 2022Updated: 10:59am, 4 Jan 2022

Veteran International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound has come out as the first high-profile IOC member to openly discuss the coronavirus threat to the Winter Games, but remains confident the Games will go ahead as planned.

The IOC member told USA Today Sports that while there was no immediate conversation around postponing the Beijing Olympics, he said there was “nothing in living memory” that compared to Covid-19 and the highly contagious Omicron variant now spreading around the globe.

His comments came after David Shoemaker, the Canadian Olympic Committee CEO, said last week that he was “worried” about the Beijing Winter Olympics going ahead in the midst of an explosion of the Omicron variant.

“We’re confident that these Games can still be scheduled safely,” Shoemaker said. But we’re taking it day by day and wake up every morning to make sure that is how we still feel about it.”

Long-time IOC member Dick Pound admits the possibility of the Beijing Games being cancelled or postponed is “very slim,” despite the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant. Photo: Reuters.

Pound, a Canadian who has been one of the most influential members of the IOC for decades, said Shoemaker “is worried more about the time period before the Games than during the Games themselves”.