Tokyo 2020 Games will be postponed, says IOC member Dick Pound
The International Olympic Committee has made a decision to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, IOC member Dick Pound said on Monday, as a window slowly started to open that could allow the showcase to be staged next year.
Major sporting nations Australia and Canada had already withdrawn on Monday as organisers came under global pressure to postpone the event for the first time in its 124-year modern history.
"Based on the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided," Pound said in newspaper USA Today. "The parameters in the years ahead have not been determined, however the Games aren't going to start out on July 24, that much I understand."
Pound told Reuters that a one-year postponement appeared as if the best solution. This might mean the Games, which had been scheduled for July 24-Aug. 9, will tend to be held in the summertime of 2021.
Japan and the IOC have said calling off the Games completely is not an option. But finding a fresh date could be complicated as the summertime 2021 calendar has already been crowded, while 2022 will dsicover the soccer World Cup and the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Pound said a huge number of stakeholders from the organising committee, to athletes to broadcasters and sporting federations would all ought to be consulted before an idea could possibly be finalised but there have been early signs of a willingness to accommodate a 2021 Summer Games.
World Athletics said on Monday they would be willing to move their 2021 world championships scheduled for Aug. 6-15 in Eugene, Oregon to clear a path for a 2021 Olympics.
"World Athletics was already in discussion with the Oregon 21 Organising Committee regarding the likelihood the Olympic Games may proceed to next year plus they subsequently have held discussions with their key stakeholders and also have reassured us they'll work with all of their partners and stakeholders to ensure that Oregon has the capacity to host the World Athletics Championships on alternative dates should that prove necessary," athletics' global governing body said in a statement.
An Olympics postponement will be a blow for host country Japan, which has pumped in a lot more than $12 billion of investment, and huge sums are also on the line for sponsors and broadcasters.
But a groundswell of concern from athletes - already struggling to teach as gyms, stadiums and swimming pools close all over the world - appeared to be tipping the balance, together with the cancellation of other major sports events.
A lot more than 337,000 people have already been infected by the novel coronavirus worldwide and over 14,600 have died in a pandemic that the World Health Organisation said was accelerating.
The IOC and japan government have both edged back from weeks of insistence that the Games would just do it, announcing a month-long consultation.
'STRESS AND UNCERTAINTY'
The Olympics haven't before been delayed, though they were cancelled altogether in 1916, 1940 and 1944 through the two world wars, and major Cold War boycotts disrupted the Moscow and LA Games in 1980 and 1984 respectively.
"The moment the IOC indicates that it's considering other solutions, it has recently made a decision to delay the Games," said French Olympic Committee president Denis Masseglia.
Canada and Australia both bluntly said they would not participate if the Games weren't put back again to 2021 and Britain may have followed suit.
"We are amid a global health crisis that is far more significant than sport," Canada's Olympic Committee and Paralympic Committee said in a statement.
A raft of other nations and sports bodies piled strain on the IOC to make a quick decision.
Athletes were sad but broadly supported a delay.
"A good choice was made, nonetheless it doesn't make it any easier," said Canadian world champion swimmer Maggie MacNeil, who was simply hoping to create her Olympic debut in Tokyo.
"Sometimes you just need a good hug."
THE TIDE TURNS
Japanese authorities appeared to be bowing to the inevitable, regardless of the losses and logistics headaches it could entail.
"We may have no option but to consider postponing," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was simply longing for a boom in tourism and consumer spending, told parliament.
The organising committee is already scaling back the torch relay in order to avoid crowds, national broadcaster NHK said.
Japanese sponsors, from Toyota Motor Corp to Panasonic Corp, were watching nervously. But Tokyo stocks sensitive to the success of the Olympics surged on Monday, after sharp falls in prior weeks, because of expectations of a delay instead of a cancellation.
Ad agency Dentsu Group's shares jumped 12%.
Pound told Reuters the IOC had tried to hold fire in order to be in a position to present the hosts, sports federations and sponsors with a clear alternative plan.
"Probably what turned the tide within the last couple of days is the curve on the COVID-19 virus. It really is getting very, very steep now which is clearly not at all something that is going to be under control by June or July and probably not by the end of the year."
