A generation of athletes could miss out on going to the Olympics if the Tokyo Games are cancelled or postponed again, Sebastian Coe, the president of World Athletics, has warned.

Coe notes that the organisation of this year’s Tokyo Olympics is taking place in “incredibly challenging times”.

But he added there were several COVID-19 protocols in place and the organisers were working hard to reassure the Japanese locals.

“There will not be a remote possibility of a postponement again,” Coe said on Wednesday.

“That will be a cancellation and the athletes who we are working absolutely flat out from around the world to provide this competition would have probably, for a generation of them, missed the opportunity to go to a Games.”

He added it was going to be a “different type of Games” for the athletes even when the Games are held in July, with sightseeing not allowed to happen this year.