The International Surfing Association is continuing its work as normal in preparation for the debut of Olympic surfing, the organization's president, Fernando Aguerre, told DUKE, without downplaying the danger posed by the coronavirus pandemic, which for an IOC member was reason enough to question the holding of Tokyo 2020.

“While it is a worrying situation for everyone, not only because of the Olympic issue, the Olympic issue is a detail, it is a serious global health situation and we are all concerned that a solution is found to stop this and to end this disease,” Aguerre told DUKE.

He added: “We are doing the same thing that the Olympic Committee is doing, which is to continue working hard and analyse the situation and see how it evolves. Today, for example, we have four people from the ISA, including my executive director, working in Japan and they were at the Olympic venue on the beach yesterday and seeing all the preparatory work; they are working on the issue of the Olympic festival. So for us, we continue working based on the fact that the Games start at the end of July, if something changes, obviously it is something we will find out later, but I prefer not to be talking about alternatives or assumptions,” Aguerre said.

It emerged today that the most senior member of the IOC, Dick Pound, told the press that the institution will take three months to determine whether the Tokyo 2020 games will take place or not due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The options available to them to solve this problem should the crisis worsen are not clear.

Tokyo 2020 is the first Games in history to have surfing as an official part.