Coronavirus: postponed, the Tokyo Olympics will open on July 23, 2021

The shining Olympic rings in Tokyo near Odaiba Marine Park. REUTERS / Issei Kato

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The Tokyo Olympics, postponed due to the current coronavirus pandemic, will open on Friday July 23, 2021. Or almost a year to the day after the date initially scheduled.

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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had convened, on Monday, March 30, a telephone meeting of its Executive Board faced with general impatience around the new dates of the Tokyo Olympic Games.

The same commission had already announced, last Tuesday, an unprecedented postponement to 2021. He only needed to know the day of the opening.

The new programming, a real " challenge "

It is therefore now official, the Olympic Games will begin on July 23, 2021. After having consulted on Thursday all 33 international sports federations present at the Games then, the next day, the National Olympic Committees, the IOC decided on this dated.

The new programming for the Tokyo Olympics remains " a challenge, " said Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, while the postponement of the Olympics will require a upheaval in the already busy international sports calendar.

The postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is a blow for the hotel and tourism sectors in Japan. As in the rest of the world, Japanese hotels have already suffered severely from the spread of the virus, with reservations down 30 to 90% in March and April compared to the same period last year, according to a survey of the '' Japanese Tourism Agency (JTA).

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