The Prime Minister of Japan, Abe Shunzo, and the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, announced on Tuesday the 2020 Olympics will be postponed for one year.
Joint Statement from the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committeehttps://t.co/XNcaa4Gvx8
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) March 24, 2020
This is the first time the Olympics have been postponed.
The Olympic Games were cancelled during World War I and World War II.
1916 Summer Olympics
1940 Summer Olympics
1940 Winter Olympics
1944 Summer Olympics
1944 Winter Olympics
From their statement:
In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community.
The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present. Therefore, it was agreed that the Olympic flame will stay in Japan. It was also agreed that the Games will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.
