48 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • APRIL 2, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
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REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
The Olympic rings are displayed in front of the Japan Olympic Museum in Tokyo, Japan.
2020 Summer Olympics
rescheduled to begin July 23, 2021
BY JOE PANTORNO
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Th e 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.
“Th ese 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.
“Th e new dates, exactly one year
aft er those originally planned for 2020
also have the added benefi t 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 suffi cient time to fi nish the
qualifi cation process. Th e same heat mitigation
measures as planned for 2020 will
be implemented.”
Before the Games were put on hold,
roughly 6,200 athletes qualifi ed for the
Olympics. Th at’s over half of the estimated
11,000-athlete fi eld that will take part
in the 32nd Olympiad.
Th e 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 four-week deadline period to
decide whether or not the Games would
be postponed. It took less than 48 hours
for the postponement to become offi cial.
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
fi rst 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 suff ered 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 confi
dent 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 Th omas
Bach said. “Humankind currently fi nds
itself in a dark tunnel. Th ese Olympic
Games Tokyo 2020 can be a light at the
end of this tunnel.”
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