Organisers agree to postpone Tokyo Olympics for one year

The Tokyo Olympics will not go ahead this year after organisers agreed a postponement due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

The Games were set to start on July 24 but concerns had been raised about the health and safety of athletes travelling to participate. Several countries had already declared that they would not be sending a team to compete this summer.

On Tuesday, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe revealed he had proposed a one-year delay and that the International Olympic Committee was in agreement.

Abe said: “I proposed to postpone for about a year and [IOC] president Thomas Bach responded with 100% agreement.

“This will make it possible for athletes to play in the best condition, and will make the event a safe and secure one for spectators.”

The IOC and Japanese government relased a statement shortly after Abe’s comments.

It read: “The president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, and the Prime Minister of Japan, Abe Shinzo, held a conference call this morning to discuss the constantly changing environment with regard to Covid-19 and the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

“President Bach and Prime Minister Abe expressed their shared concern about the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, and what it is doing to people’s lives and the significant impact it is having on global athletes’ preparations for the Games.

“In a very friendly and constructive meeting, the two leaders praised the work of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and noted the great progress being made in Japan to fight against COVID-19.

“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.

“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.”