Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said in an interview with BBC Sport he accepts that the Tokyo Olympics would need to be canceled if they still can’t be held in 2021.

“You cannot forever employ 3,000 to 5,000 people in an organising committee,” Bach told BBC Sport. “You cannot have the athletes being in uncertainty.”

Bach said that postponing a year is a “mammoth task,” and that the 2021 event will “definitely be different” with some aspects pared down to “essentials.”