2020 Summer Olympics will be postponed amid COVID-19 pandemic
Published March 24, 2020 at 12:57 pm
The 2020 Tokyo Games will be postponed until 2021 after both Canada and Australia pulled their athletes out amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe said Sunday that a postponement is unavoidable if the Summer Olympics can’t be held in a complete manner.
Veteran International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound of Montreal said Monday that he believed the 2020 Tokyo Games would be postponed.
Pound told The Canadian Press in a phone interview he expected the July 24 start of the Olympics would be pushed back.
“We’re all reading the tea leaves and so on, but the Japanese themselves are talking about postponing,” Pound said. “A lot of National Olympic Committees and countries are calling for a postponement.”
Canada called for a postponement on Sunday night.
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Earlier Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic committees made the right decision in announcing Canadian athletes will not go to this summer’s Olympics or Paralympics if they start on their scheduled dates.
Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, the COC said Sunday night it would hold back its athletes if the Games start as scheduled and called for a postponement until 2021.
“I know this heartbreaking for so many people — athletes, coaches, staff and fans. But this was absolutely the right call and everyone should follow their lead,” Trudeau said Monday in Ottawa.
Trudeau said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is “very much aware of the challenges” with the Tokyo Games attempting to start on time.
The Summer Olympics were scheduled to start July 24 with the Paralympics slated to follow on Aug. 25.
Canada’s statement joined a growing chorus of critics around the IOC’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Australian Olympic Committee has told its athletes in a statement on its website they should prepare for the Tokyo Games in 2021.
IOC president Thomas Bach said earlier Sunday the global organization is considering options including postponement, and a decision will be made in four weeks.
Cancelling the Games entirely, Bach said, was not being considered.
The IOC and Japan’s organizing committee had consistently said the Games would go ahead as planned.
With countless cancellations, only 57 per cent of Olympic qualification spots have been determined.
Since the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896, only World Wars have cancelled Games in 1916, 1940 and 1944.
There have been three major boycotts, in 1976 in Montreal, 1980, and 1984.
–With files from The Canadian Press
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