A pedestrian walks past an official Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games banner on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building on January 22, 2021. Photo: VCG

The entire Olympic Movement is looking forward to the opening ceremony on July 23," International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said in a video message half a year before the rescheduled Tokyo Olympic Games. 

There have long been rumors that the Tokyo Games - already postponed a year due to the coronavirus pandemic - would be cancelled. On Friday, The Times of London reported that the Japanese government has privately concluded that the event will have to be cancelled and their focus is now on securing the Games for Tokyo in 2032. 

The next two Olympic Games will be held in Paris (2024) and Los Angeles (2028).

"No one wants to be the first to say so but the consensus is that it's too difficult," The Times quoted an unnamed source within the Japanese government as saying. 

Without mentioning either The Times report or the pandemic, Bach said in his video message on Friday he was confident the Games would go ahead, which are scheduled from July 23 to August 8. 

The IOC head said he had spoken with all 206 National Olympic Committees around the world and "they are all fully committed and looking forward to the Games."

Bach told Japan's Kyodo News on Thursday that the Games will go ahead and "there is no plan B." The German also said the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 would go ahead as planned. China has said it will continue supporting Japan in hosting the Olympics and hopes it will be held as scheduled, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a regular press conference in July.

The Japanese government also dismissed the report on Friday, claiming there was "no truth" to it. 

"At some point in time, we will naturally make a decision as to whether to actually hold it," deputy government spokesperson Manabu Sakai said. "Until then, the Japanese government will do what it needs to do and make progress and prepare for it."

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga insisted he was "determined" to hold the Olympics "as proof that mankind will have overcome the virus."

Tokyo 2020 organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto said earlier this week that organizers were "unwavering" in their commitment to holding the Olympics this year and that cancellation had not been discussed.

Tokyo and other regions are under a state of emergency amid a new wave of COVID-19 infections, and Japan has closed its borders to non-resident foreigners.

On Thursday Tokyo reported more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases for the ninth consecutive day. Japan has reported 357,174 cases and 4,980 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins Universality statistics. 

Meanwhile, recent polls have shown about 80 percent of the Japanese people don't want the Games to be held this year, fearing an influx of athletes and fans would spread the virus.

In order to secure the hosting of the Olympics, the IOC is working with the World Health Organization to get all Olympians vaccinated, British newspaper The Telegraph reported on Friday. Fast-tracking COVID-19 vaccines to athletes where national vaccination programs haven't started is the main priority of the plan, the report said.