Tokyo Olympics – which was postponed due to coronavirus pandemic – has been rescheduled and now will be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021, organizing committee confirmed today (Monday).
Olympics 2020 was originally scheduled to take place from July 24 to August 9 this year in Japan’s capital Tokyo. However, the event was postponed for the first time in history due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
Tokyo Games organizing committee President Yoshiro Mori in a press conference said, “We originally agreed to postpone the games to the summer of 2021 at the latest, but we wanted to hold them in the summer.”
The President further said, “We thought it will take time to hold qualifications and for the athletes to prepare for them,” adding that the games taking place during the summer vacation will allow many people, including spectators, to participate.
In a tweet from Olympic officials, the opening ceremony will take place on July 23. Olympic officials also stated that the new dates were decided from among several proposed time frames, including springtime, to avoid major conflicts with the international sports calendar.
The Tokyo Olympics are set to be the largest in history, with over 10,000 athletes competing in 339 events across 33 sports should the current program remain the same.
In Japan, coronavirus has claimed lives of almost 55 people and has affected more than 1800 people. Japanese comedian Ken Shimura – the first entertainment figure of Japan – also died from coronavirus.
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