After event officials announced the postponement of the Olympics last week due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, both the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics have been rescheduled for nearly one year later. The Olympics are now slated for Jul. 23 to Aug. 8, 2021, with the Paralympics to be conducted Aug. 24 to Sept. 5. Additionally, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will remain the Games of the XXXII Olympiad.
“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,” said International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach in a statement. “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. These Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 can be a light at the end of this tunnel.”
Now that the new dates have been finalized, athletes are free to schedule and plan their competition and training schedules accordingly. And, the aforementioned IOC statement confirmed that all athletes that have already qualified (and quota places) for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will remain unchanged.
Although the new competition schedule for next year’s Tokyo Games has yet to be announced, one thing is for sure—the Jul. 23, 2021, opening day will mark the earliest start to a Summer Olympics since the Atlanta Games opened on Jul. 19, 1996. The Winter Games in Beijing will begin less than six months later on Feb. 4, 2022.
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