For thousands of athletes around the world, it would have once been considered a nightmare scenario. And on Tuesday, it became official.
In an unprecedented and unavoidable move, the International Olympic Committee and Japanese government agreed to postpone the 2020 Summer Olympics “to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021” due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
It is the first time in modern Olympic history that a global health issue has disrupted the Games.
“The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times,” the IOC and Tokyo 2020 organizing committee said in a joint statement. “And that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present.”
Organizers said the Olympic flame will stay in Japan during the delay, and the Games will also continue to officially be called “Tokyo 2020,” even as they move to 2021.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and IOC president Thomas Bach formally agreed to the decision Tuesday, amid intensifying pressure and public pleas for clarity from athletes and governing bodies alike.
