U.S. President Joe Biden said Tuesday that arrangements are under way for first lady Jill Biden to travel to Japan to attend the Tokyo Olympics starting next month.
"We're trying to work that out now. That's the plan," he told reporters at the White House.
Biden has been reiterating his support for Japan's plan to hold a "safe and secure" Tokyo Olympics amid lingering concerns over pushing ahead with the global sporting event without the coronavirus pandemic fully under control.
Following a 12-month postponement of the games due to the pandemic, the opening ceremony is slated for July 23.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a press conference on Monday that the president himself is not planning to attend the games, but stopped short of revealing who would lead the U.S. delegation.
At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, then U.S. Vice President Mike Pence attended the opening event. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, then Secretary of State John Kerry led the U.S. delegation to the opening ceremony.
As for the 2012 games in London, then first lady Michelle Obama represented the U.S. delegation.
Jill Biden, 70, served as the second lady of the United States while her husband was vice president in the Barack Obama administration for eight years through January 2017. She takes pride in her career as an educator and is a professor of writing at Northern Virginia Community College.
