The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games have been postponed up until next year because of the around the world coronavirus pandemic.
The event, due to start on 24 July, will now occur “no later than summertime 2021”.
” I proposed to delay for a year and [IOC] president Thomas Bach reacted with 100%agreement,” said Shinzo Abe, Japan’s Prime Minister.
The occasion will still be called Tokyo 2020 in spite of occurring in 2021.
In a joint statement, the organisers of Tokyo 2020 and the IOC stated: “The unmatched and unforeseeable spread of the outbreak has seen the scenario in the remainder of the world weakening.
” On Monday, the director general of the World Health Company, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the Covid-19 pandemic is ‘speeding up’.
” There are more than 375,000 cases now taped worldwide and in nearly every country, and their number is growing by the hour.
” In the present scenarios and based upon the information provided by the WHO today [Tuesday], the IOC president and the prime minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo should be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer season 2021, to secure the health of the professional athletes, everybody associated with the Olympic Games and the global community.”
While the Games is the biggest sporting event to be impacted by the pandemic, there has been a big influence on a host of other significant competitions and sports:
- In rugby union, completion of this year’s Six Countries was held off, with four impressive components to be rearranged in the males’s competition.
- In football, Euro 2020 was held off and will be played in the summer of 2021, while the sport is suspended in the UK until 30 April at the earliest.
- The very first eight grands prix of the Formula 1 season have actually been postponed, with the Monaco Grand Prix cancelled.
- County cricket in England and Wales will not be played before 28 May, while England’s three-Test series against West Indies, due to start at The Oval on 4 June, remains in doubt.
- All kinds of expert tennis have actually been postponed until 7 June, eliminating the clay-court season, while the French Open – the year’s second Grand Slam, has been rescheduled for September.
- Golf’s Masters and PGA Championship have actually both been postponed, with a decision yet to be made about September’s Ryder Cup.
- The London Marathon has actually been moved from 26 April to 4 October.
The IOC had given itself a due date of four weeks to consider postponing the Games but there had actually been mounting pressure from a host of Olympic committees and athletes demanding a quicker choice.
Canada ended up being the first significant country to withdraw from both events on Sunday, while U.S.A. Track and Field, athletics’ US governing body, had actually likewise required a postponement.
International Paralympic C