The troubled 2020 Tokyo Olympics took another bizarre turn on Tuesday, when embattled IOC President Thomas Bach misspoke during his first public appearance since he arrived in the host city last week.
Bach, whose arrival provoked protests from activists, was addressing public concerns over whether the Games can be staged safely when he referred to the host country as "the Chinese people" before quickly correcting himself.
"Our common target is safe and secure Games for everybody; for the athletes, for all the delegations, and most importantly also for the Chinese people -- Japanese people,'' Bach said at a meeting at the Tokyo organizing committee's headquarters.
The gaffe was quickly picked up by Japanese reporters, prompting "backlash" on social media, according to the Associated Press.
During the conference, Bach maintained that the Games would not be cancelled or postponed again, despite a surge in virus cases in Tokyo in recent months. The spike prompted the Games to be closed to the public, while polling has consistently shown broad public apathy toward holding the Games at all.
Bach's miscue is only the latest for an Olympics that has already been pushed back a full year due to the global pandemic. Earlier this year, former Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori stepped down as president of the Tokyo organizing committee in the wake of sexist comments.
The Games were set to begin on July 23.
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