‘Japan suits us,’ says Swiss Olympic president

As the Tokyo Olympic Games begin, Jürg Stahl, president of Swiss Olympic, discusses expectations, local opposition and whether the tournament should even be taking place. In an interview with the Keystone-SDA Swiss News Agency, Stahl said the Lausanne-based International Olympic Committee (IOC) was reacting to the Covid-19 pandemic more sensibly than European football’s governing body UEFA did at the recent European Championships. He also addressed plans to further relax Covid measures for athletes and fans in Switzerland in the autumn. SDA: Japan isn’t a bad place for Switzerland, looking back at previous Olympic Games... Jürg Stahl: Absolutely. I was only four when we experienced the golden days of Sapporo in 1972 [when Switzerland came third in the medal table at the Winter Olympics]. That really shaped the [following] generation, to which I belong. As for the first Games in Tokyo eight years earlier, […] back then it took the dressage team 60 hours to fly there, including...