A TV grab from a video released by the IOC on March 24, 2020 shows IOC President Thomas Bach delivering a statement after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed to no later than the summer of 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe. (HANDOUT / AFP)

ATHENS - The summer Olympic Games in Tokyo show that there is light at the end of the tunnel of the coronavirus pandemic, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said on Tuesday.

The 2020 Olympic Games were postponed last year due to the pandemic

Bach was in Athens to attend a ceremony for the unveiling of new lighting at the Panathenaic Stadium, the marble stadium that hosted the first modern Games in 1896.

“We met last time at the very beginning of the pandemic, and now we are hopefully meeting towards the end of the pandemic,” Bach told Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

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“We see, or start to see, the light at the end of the tunnel, in particular with the Games in Tokyo,” he said.

The 2020 Olympic Games were postponed last year due to the pandemic. They are scheduled to be held from July 23 to Aug 8, although the organisers have banned international spectators from attending.