Every four years, the world’s attention is drawn to the largest international sporting event of the summer, the Olympic games. Last year, it came that time again and the world was due for another round of exciting competition, set to be hosted in Tokyo from July 24th, 2020 to August 9th, 2020. It goes without saying, that as the events of the last year began to unfold, it became abundantly clear that the games would not be able to be safely held under the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With that, the Olympics were postponed to be held this summer from July 23rd, 2021 to August 8th, 2021. However, with the situation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic improving, but realistically not much better than it was last year at this time, the fate of the games are being tested yet again. Reality has forced many people to wonder whether the Olympics will be able to be held safely this year. And while limited information has been shared by officials of the International Olympic Committee, here’s what we know:

Tokyo’s Olympic chief said on Friday, April 16th that Japan was committed to holding a safe Olympics this summer.

Japan is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, which led to an expansion of control procedures and the voices of many calling for the Games to be postponed once again, or cancelled.

Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto said, “We’re not thinking of cancelling the Olympics… We will continue to do what we can to implement a thorough safety regimen that will make people feel complete safety.”

North Korea announced earlier in April that it will skip out on the delayed Olympic games in an effort to prevent the country’s athletes from contracting COVID-19.

In late March, it was announced that overseas spectators will be banned from the Tokyo Olympic games.

So it seems, with the intended start date of the Tokyo Olympics under 100 days away, despite public concerns and increasing cases of COVID-19 throughout Japan, government officials and athletes alike are optimistic about the fate of the games. A majority of athletes have continued their training preparations for the games, as have the staff behind the organization of this year’s Olympics.

So yes, the Olympics are still on for this summer. However, this is subject to change at any moment, given the current situation regarding the pandemic in Japan. Whatever the decision may be, one thing is certain- the following months will provide challenge and emotion for everyone involved.