Olympics postponed
Tokyo Olympic Games Committee make the decision to postpone to 2021.
Written by Jack O'Rourke
Photography by Beau Outteridge
25 March 2020
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The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games has been postponed until next year because of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.
The event, due to begin on 24 July, will now take place in2021. The news was announced via a press release from the Games.
The unprecedented and unpredictable spread of the outbreak has seen the situation in the rest of the world deteriorating. Yesterday, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the COVID-19 pandemic is “accelerating”. There are more than 375,000 cases now recorded worldwide and in nearly every country, and their number is growing by the hour.
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.”
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The postponement of the Games also includes the Paralympic games, and follows the announcements that Canada and Australia would not send their athletes to Tokyo.
The IOC originally have itself a deadline of four weeks to consider delaying the Games, but made the announcement to postpone due to mounting pressure from a host of Olympic committees and athletes demanding a quicker decision.
Ben Houston, Chief Executive Officer of Australian Sailing has responded to the announcement, stating: “I appreciate the need to contain the outbreak of COVID-19, and like the IOC and AOC consider the health and safety of our athletes and the wider community to be paramount.
“I am also aware that there are many who are facing much more difficult circumstances than us as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. We need to work together to fight this pandemic through good hygiene practices and abiding by social distancing recommendations for the greater good.
“The decision to postpone the Games will require a significant change of planning for the Australian Sailing Team who have been immersed in their final preparations for Tokyo 2020, but the team will use this extra time efficiently to further enhance our exciting 2021 prospects.
“The athletes have put a lifetime of work in to preparing for these Games, so our priority now turns to ensuring their wellbeing through our network of support services.
“Our team will also immediately commence reviewing and adjusting plans for an Olympic Games in 2021.”
World Sailing, the world governing body of the sport, has responded, throwing its support behind the decision.
“President Kim Andersen and the World Sailing Executive Office are in direct communication with the IOC Sports Department,” the statement read. “The IOC are engaging with World Sailing to develop the necessary plans in full partnership and to ensure full transparency with a focus on information for World Sailing and the athletes.
In the short term, World Sailing will not hold Olympic qualification events for Africa, Asia or Europe. World Sailing is working with the IOC on an update to the qualification system where our recommendation will be to look at hosting qualifications events in late 2020 or early 2021.”
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