As major world events get postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Tokyo 2020 Olympics has become the latest event added to that growing list.
International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound has on March 23 announced that the grand event will be postponed till 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
He confirmed the Games – due to start on Friday, July 24, and end on Sunday, August 9 – will be held at a later date, most likely in 2021.
Pound told USA Today that;
On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided. The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know.
The details over when the Games will be held are to be worked out over the next four weeks.
The IOC member added that;
It will come in stages. We will postpone this and begin to deal with all the ramifications of moving this, which are immense.
When asked IOC was asked if Pound was speaking officially for the committee, the organization said;
It is the right of every IOC member to interpret the decision of the IOC EB which was announced yesterday.
The decision referred to is the IOC announcement that it will study different scenarios regarding the future of the 2020 Games.
This means the group will finalize discussions within four weeks, and that cancelation is “not on the agenda.”
While the Olympics have been canceled in the past, for World War I and World War II, they have never been postponed to a different year.
The decision to postpone the Olympics comes after intense pressure from competing countries, with Australia and Canada pulling out before the announcement today.
