If nothing is yet official, the trend of a postponement of the next Tokyo Olympic Games is becoming clear from hour to hour. After the International Athletics Federation, it was Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who asked the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday to postpone the event by one year. Request accepted by the president of the authority, Thomas Bach.
"I offered to postpone them for about a year and the president of the International Olympic Committee (Thomas) Bach agreed 100%," Abe said in front of the television cameras. The Prime Minister made the statement after a conference call with Mr. Bach.
If officially approved by the IOC, this postponement will be a first for the modern era Olympics in peacetime. Previously, only the two world conflicts of the 20th century had led to the technical postponement and then the cancellation of the Olympiads.
"The postponement has been decided", the former IOC vice-president sells the wick via @ 20minutesSport https://t.co/y9DvOxMCtn
- 20 Minutes Sport (@ 20minutesSport) March 24, 2020The IOC must face the facts
It's a huge blow to the city of Tokyo and Japan, who have been preparing meticulously for years to host the biggest sporting event on the planet from July 24 to August 9, followed by the Paralympic Games from August 25 to September 6 .
The Japanese authorities and the IOC have long been reluctant to officially consider changing the Olympic calendar. But the pressure from athletes, then from national and international sports federations, became stronger day by day with the inexorable spread of the coronavirus, which appeared in China at the end of 2019 and which is now rampant elsewhere in the world, especially in Europe.
Sport
Coronavirus: "The postponement of the Olympic Games has been decided" ... The former IOC vice-president sells the wick
- Sport
- Covid 19
- CIO
- Tokyo
- OJ 2020
- Olympic Games
- Athletics
- Coronavirus
- Japan