The International Olympic Committee (IOC) have finally confirmed the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games due to coronavirus pandemic.
The Games have been postponed until 2021.
A statement from the IOC read: “In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community.”
Tokyo had completed preparations when the virus started spreading across the world. IOC had insisted that the Games would go on but have been forced to change their stance after some countries threatened to boycott the competition.
The Olympics have never been delayed in their 124-year modern history, though they were cancelled altogether in 1916, 1940 and 1944 during the two world wars. Cold War boycotts disrupted the Moscow and Los Angeles Games in 1980 and 1984.
It has also been confirmed that this postponement also includes the Paralympic Games.
