Tokyo 2020 President Yoshiro Mori said the rescheduled Games will be canceled if the coronavirus pandemic is not over by next summer, according to an interview published today in Japanese newspaper Nikkan Sports, CNN reports.

Asked by Nikkan Sports about whether the Games would be postponed again if the pandemic was not over by the summer, Mori said: "No. It will be canceled then. The Olympics was canceled in the past for problems like war. We are fighting against an invisible enemy now."

This is the strongest statement on canceling the Olympics from the organization, which had routinely said it was focusing on holding the Games as the outbreak of Covid-19 grew into a pandemic.

The Olympics and Paralympic Games set to be held this summer in Tokyo were rescheduled to start on July 23, 2021.