Tokyo Summer Olympics Rescheduled for July 2021
Among the events that were postponed due to the current coronavirus pandemic are the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
On Monday, the new dates for the XXXII Olympiad were set for exactly one year later: July 23 to August 8, 2021 for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and August 4 to September 5, 2021 for the Paralympic Games. According to the statement, this decision was made for three reasons: “to protect the health of the athletes and everyone involved, and to support the containment of the COVID-19 virus”; “to safeguard the interests of the athletes and of Olympic sport”; and “the global international sports calendar.”
“I want to thank the International Federations for their unanimous support and the Continental Associations of National Olympic Committees for the great partnership and their support in the consultation process over the last few days,” IOC President Thomas Bach said. “I would also like to thank the IOC Athletes’ Commission, with whom we have been in constant contact. With this announcement, I am confident that, working together with the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Japanese Government and all our stakeholders, we can master this unprecedented challenge.”
“Humankind currently finds itself in a dark tunnel,” he continued. “These Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 can be a light at the end of this tunnel.”
“The new dates provide certainty for the athletes, reassurance for the stakeholders and something to look forward to for the whole world,” Andrew Parsons, the President of the IPC, added. “When the Paralympic Games do take place in Tokyo next year, they will be an extra-special display of humanity uniting as one, a global celebration of human resilience and a sensational showcase of sport.”
The Olympic cauldron is lit during the ‘Flame of Recovery’ special exhibition (Clive Rose/Getty Images)
“I proposed that the Games should be hosted between July and August 2021, and I really appreciate that President Bach, having discussed this proposal with the various international sports federations and other related organisations, kindly accepted my proposal,” the President of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, Mori Yoshirō, said. “A certain amount of time is required for the selection and qualification of athletes and for their training and preparation, and the consensus was that staging the rescheduled Games during the summer vacation in Japan would be preferable.”
All athletes already qualified and quota places already assigned will remain unchanged.
Tokyo Summer Olympics, July 23 – August 8, 2021
