Tokyo Olympics postponed to 2021 due to coronavirus

2020-03-24 23:50:33 / ACN

Logic and good reasoning finally prevailed: to safeguard the health of all participants and contribute to the containment of COVID-19, the Tokyo olympic Games, scheduled for July, have been postponed to 2021.

The final agreement was reached in a phone call this morning between Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach.

Abe stressed that the cancellation of the Games was out of the question, while Bach attested that postponing everything to a later date in 2021 was most responsible for the current pandemic affecting more than 170 countries.

"We agree that postponing the Games would be the best way to ensure that athletes are in optimum condition when they compete, as well as safeguarding the health and safety of spectators," the Japanese PM stressed.

Following the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, several national Olympic committees had asked prior to the IOC to postpone the event, scheduled for July 24 to August 9 in Tokyo.