The Executive Board "will meet on Tuesday by conference call to prepare the exchange of information with the representatives of the athletes, the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and the international federations during a series of telephone meetings scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday" , said the IOC.

This meeting of the Executive Commission will take place Tuesday morning before a scheduled telephone meeting at 1:00 p.m. local time (12:00 p.m. GMT) with the international federations.

The purpose of this meeting with the international federations is to keep them "informed of the situation, as are the National Olympic Committees and the athletes", said a source close to the IOC on Sunday.

The IOC "will take stock of the actions carried out" to respond to the consequences of the coronavirus crisis "and the federations will have the opportunity to ask questions," added a source within an international federation.

The question of qualifications should be at the center of these meetings spread over two days while the organization of many qualification tournaments is still pending.

At the beginning of March, Mr. Bach had assured that the IOC would show "flexibility" regarding the qualifications for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and had encouraged "all athletes to continue to prepare".

This meeting comes at a time when several recent polls show skepticism growing in Japan over the continuation of the Olympic Games.

If many international sporting events have been postponed or canceled, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised Friday that Tokyo would host the Olympic Games as planned in July, despite questions raised by the pandemic linked to the new coronavirus.