Tokyo Olympic Games confirms 2021 dates after coronavirus forced postponement
The Tokyo Olympic Games will run from July 23 to August 8, 2021, after the worldwide coronavirus pandemic forced the postponement this year.
All major sporting events around the world have been postponed for the forseeable future because of the killer virus.
Qualifying events and athletes' training regimes have all been disrupted since a large number of countries placed themselves into lockdown.
That caused all sort of issues heading into this summer's Olympic Games.
The International Olympic Committee, along with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, announced the postponement last week.
And during a telephone conversation earlier today they came to a decision that the torch will be lit on July 23, 2021.
A statement released by the IOC claims the decision was made for three reasons.
"1. To protect the health of the athletes and everyone involved, and to support the containment of the COVID-19 virus.
"2. To safeguard the interests of the athletes and of Olympic sport.
"3. The global international sports calendar."
IOC president Thomas Bach hopes by setting a new date it will offer sports fans and competitors light at the end of the tunnel.
He said: "I want to thank the International Federations for their unanimous support and the Continental Associations of National Olympic Committees for the great partnership and their support in the consultation process over the last few days.
"I would also like to thank the IOC Athletes' Commission, with whom we have been in constant contact.
"With this announcement, I am confident 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. Humankind currently finds itself in a dark tunnel.
"These Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 can be a light at the end of this tunnel."
The president of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, Mori Yoshiro, said: "IOC President Thomas Bach and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee held a conference call today to discuss in detail the revised dates of the Tokyo 2020 Games.
"Minister for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games Hashimoto Seiko and Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko joined the call.
"I proposed that the Games should be hosted between July and August 2021, and I really appreciate that president Bach, having discussed this proposal with the various international sports federations and other related organisations, kindly accepted my proposal.
"A certain amount of time is required for the selection and qualification of athletes and for their training and preparation, and the consensus was that staging the rescheduled Games during the summer vacation in Japan would be preferable.
"In terms of transport, arranging volunteers and the provision of tickets for those in Japan and overseas, as well as allowing for the COVID-19 situation, we think that it would be better to reschedule the Games to one year later than planned, in the summer of 2021.
"Notwithstanding the postponement of the Olympic and Paralympic Games for the first time in history, and various other issues that have already been highlighted, the event schedule is the cornerstone of future preparations, and I am convinced that taking this decision promptly will help speed up future preparations.
"I would like to thank all the stakeholders, including the host city Tokyo and the Government of Japan, for their hard work during this short period.
"The Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee will continue to work hard for the success of next year's Games."
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