2020 Summer Olympics rescheduled
to begin on July 23 in 2021: Report
The Olympic rings are displayed in front of the Japan Olympic Museum in Tokyo, Japan. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | APRIL 3-APRIL 9, 2020 23
SPORTS
BY JOE PANTORNO
The 2020 Summer Olympic
Games have been rescheduled
for July 23 – Aug. 8 2021, the
International Olympic Committee
(IOC), Tokyo Organizing
Committee, and Tokyo
Metropolitan Government
announced Monday morning.
Originally scheduled for
this summer — from July
24 – Aug. 8 — the 2020 Tokyo
Games were postponed due to
the outbreak of coronavirus,
as announced last week.
“These new dates give the
health authorities and all involved
in the organization
of the Games the maximum
time to deal with the constantly
changing landscape
and the disruption caused
by the COVID-19 pandemic,”
the IOC said in a statement.
“The new dates, exactly one
year after those originally
planned for 2020 also have
the added benefit that any
disruption that the postponement
will cause to the international
sports calendar can
be kept to a minimum, in the
interests of the athletes and
the IFs. Additionally, they
will provide sufficient time to
finish the qualification process.
The same heat mitigation
measures as planned for
2020 will be implemented.”
Before the Games were put
on hold, roughly 6,200 athletes
qualified for the Olympics.
That’s over half of the
estimated 11,000-athlete field
that will take part in the 32nd
Olympiad.
The decision to postpone
the Games last week was a
quick turn of heel for the organizers.
As recently as March 18,
Japan’s top spokesman and
chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide
Suga, claimed that there
were no plans to postpone the
Olympics.
Just four days later, the
IOC administered a fourweek
deadline period to
decide whether or not the
Games would be postponed.
It took less than 48 hours for
the postponement to become
official.
It was the latest major
sports organization to postpone
its play following the
mass stoppages of other
prominent leagues such as
Major League Baseball, the
NBA, NHL, and NCAA. But
this was first time ever that
the Olympic Games — the
largest sporting event in the
world — would be postponed
in the modern era; another
sizable hit to an athletic
community
that has suffered mightily
in recent weeks due to the
COVID-19 outbreak.
A rescheduled date at
least provides solace that
the Games will go on for the
athletes realizing a dream of
competing and the millions
of fans the Summer Olympics
captivate every four
years.
“With this announcement,
I am confident that, working
together with the Tokyo 2020
Organising Committee, the
Tokyo Metropolitan Government,
the Japanese Government
and all our stakeholders,
we can master this
unprecedented challenge,”
IOC President Thomas Bach
said. “Humankind currently
finds itself in a dark tunnel.
These Olympic Games Tokyo
2020 can be a light at the end
of this tunnel.”
/QNS.COM
