Tokyo Olympics until 2021 due to Covid-19 pandemic

The Tokyo Olympics are to be postponed until 2021 at the latest due to the coronavirus, the International Olympic Committee and host nation Japan said on Tuesday.

The decision was taken after talks between Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the IOC president Thomas Bach.

“We agreed that a postponement would be the best way to ensure that the athletes are in peak condition when they compete and to guarantee the safety of the spectators,” Abe told reporters shortly after his conference call with Bach, adding that the Games would be held by the summer of 2021.

The Games “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 IOC and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee said in a joint statement.

The duo said both the Olympic and Paralympic Games would still be called "Tokyo 2020” even if they are held next year, and the Olympic flame would remain in Japan “as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times”.

Criticism had been mounting in recent weeks from athletes unable to get to training bases as governments imposed travel bans. The IOC had been steadfast in its position that the Games would go ahead.

However, once Canada and Australia said they would not send athletes to Japan in July and the British and French governments pressed for a decision, the IOC was forced to act.