Tokyo 2020: The IOC and Japan Finally Agree to Cancel the Olympics

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics will now be postponed to next year.

The decision to postpone the Games was reached this morning after a conference call between Japanese Prime Minister, Abe Shinzo, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, and other stakeholders.

With the unprecedented spread of the coronavirus outbreak, and as global cases had surpassed 375,000, the IOC president and Prime Minister of Japan made the decision to move the Olympics to a date not later than the summer of 2021.

However, the Olympics will keep the name ‘Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.’

In the statement released by the IOC and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, they said:

‘In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO 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 leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could 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.’

Even after months of ‘reviewing the situation’, and facing mounting pressure to cancel the Games, Thomas Bach released a communique as recently as last week, saying that the IOC remained ‘fully committed to the Olympic Games’.

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This change in decision came after countries such as Canada and Australia announced their decision to skip the Games yesterday. The Olympic Committees of other countries have also pressed for a postponement of the global sporting event, citing complaints that athletes could not train properly with the current restrictions to control further spread of the disease, and concerns that participating in the event was unsafe for all involved.

The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, spoke about the Canadian Olympic Committee’s decision to withdraw from the Games and said:

‘I know this is heartbreaking for so many people, athletes, coaches, staff and fans, but this was absolutely the right call and everyone should follow their lead.’

The Olympics have been canceled three times before now – In 1916, it was cancelled as World War I began. It was also cancelled in 1940 and 1944 because of World War II.