Tokyo Olympics 2020 has been Postponed until Summer Next Year 

The 2020 Olympic and Paralympics games that were due to hold from July 24 to August 9 and August 25 to September 6 respectively (this year) in Japan will now take place no later than summer 2021. The reason behind the immediate postponement of the sporting events is due to the unprecedented and unpredictable spread of coronavirus pandemic that has been deteriorating the world today. Even as the Olympic games and the Paralympics will be held next year, it is confirmed that the events will still be called the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

 A joint IOC-Tokyo Organising Committee said the names of the events will remain unchanged: “The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present. Therefore, it was agreed that the Olympic flame will stay in Japan. It was also agreed that the Games will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.”    

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) in a statement this afternoon explains the importance of the postponement of this year’s Olympic games: “In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the World Health Organization 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.”  

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), the local organizers and the Japanese government have all done the right thing in joining hands in postponing this year’s edition of the Games as the social distancing measures imposed to limit the spread of the Coronavirus has prevented lots of athletes to train and as a matter of fact, a few numbers of teams have also been pulling out of the Olympic games because of the COVID-19. 

The postponement done today will be the first-ever in the 124 years’ history of the Olympic Games, it was only previously cancelled during wartime.