The Tokyo Olympics are to begin on July 23 next year, the organizer said yesterday, after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the historic decision to postpone the Games.
The announcement came less than a week after the organizer was forced to delay the Games under heavy pressure from athletes and sports federations as the global outbreak worsened.
“The Olympics will be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021. The Paralympics will be held from August 24 to September 5,” Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games president Yoshiro Mori told reporters at a hastily arranged news conference in Tokyo.
Only hours earlier, Mori had said he expected a decision from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) during the course of the week, but yesterday he said an emergency teleconference had been held and the dates finalized.
“We agreed that the timing of the event will be in summer as originally planned, considering the coronavirus ... and a certain amount of time needed for preparations, selection and qualification of athletes,” he said.
The new dates would give health authorities and the committee “the maximum time to deal with the constantly changing landscape and the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the IOC said in a statement.
The decision would also cause “minimum” disruption to the international sports calendar, it said.
The Tokyo Olympics were due to open on July 24 this year and run for 16 days, but the pandemic forced the first peace-time postponement of the Games.
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