Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, addresses a press conference about the 3rd Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland on Jan. 21, 2020. (Xinhua/Chen Yichen)
IOC President Thomas Bach took to his bike to stay active and encouraged everyone to use sport and physical activity to keep healthy.
LAUSANNE, April 6 (Xinhua) -- International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach took to his bike to stay active and encouraged everyone to use sport and physical activity to keep healthy.
In a video message released on Sunday (April 5), the Montreal 1976 gold-medal winning fencer responded to the restrictions placed on much of the planet due to the coronavirus pandemic, saying, "We all have, every day, to find new ways to stand through this crisis."
A man wearing protective face masks walk past the logo of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games displayed on a wall of The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Tokyo, Japan, March 25, 2020. The Tokyo Olympic Games has been rescheduled to July 23 to August 8, 2021, organizers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games announced on Monday. (Xinhua/Du Xiaoyi)
Bach added that "Monday April 6 is the for Development and Peace, one reason more to get active, to play sport and one reason more to look forward to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 which, because of the situation we are in now, we will celebrate next year."
The message comes less than a week after the IOC and Tokyo 2020 organizers confirmed the next Olympic Games would be postponed by almost exactly a year, to start on July 23, 2021.
With much of the world's population staying at home in an effort to halt the spread of the pandemic, Bach commented: "If you are staying active, if you are staying strong, if you are staying healthy, we can celebrate them all together as a great festival of our resilience, as a great festival of our solidarity, and as a great festival of the unity of humankind in all of our diversity."
A pedestrian wearing mask walks past the Olympic rings in Tokyo, Japan, March 12, 2020. Japan's health ministry and local governments said Friday the number of COVID-19 infections rose by 21 to 697 cases in Japan as of 6:30 p.m. local time here. (Xinhua/Du Xiaoyi)
"Sport and physical activity can play an important role - an important role for staying strong and for staying healthy, but also to get ready for the day after this crisis, for the day we are all longing for, when we can resume our professional and social life, and for the day when finally we can hug each other again and can play sport together again," he added.
"The 2020 International Day of Sport for Development and Peace will encourage people to be active while experiencing containment measures, foster solidarity, community and team spirit and raise awareness about COVID-19," the United Nations said on its official website. ■