Tokyo Summer Olympics postponed due to coronavirus
Sports
By
Robert Abong'o
| Mar 24, 2020
It is official, we will not be watching the Olympics this year.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday, March 24 revealed he and the International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach had agreed to postpone the Olympic Games scheduled for the summer this year.
"I proposed to postpone for about a year and president Bach responded with a hundred per cent agreement," Shinzo Abe told the press.
The Prime Minister’s Office of Japan also made the announcement on Twitter.
“After his telephone talks with IOC President Bach, PM Abe spoke to the press and explained that the two have agreed that the Tokyo Olympic Games would not be cancelled, and the games will be held by the summer of 2021,” said the Prime Minister’s Office.
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The postponement of the event comes at a time when the world is trying to battle with the coronavirus, which has so far claimed more than 17,000 deaths.
After his telephone talks with IOC President Bach, PM Abe spoke to the press and explained that the two have agreed that the Tokyo Olympic Games would not be cancelled, and the games will be held by the summer of 2021. ="https://t.co/ihe8To2g3R">pic.twitter.com/ihe8To2g3R<
— PM's Office of Japan (@JPN_PMO) ="https://twitter.com/JPN_PMO/status/1242428276464812033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 24, 2020<
The United States of America were the latest nation to support the postponement idea, hours after Canada and Australia both pulled out.
“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,” read a joint statement from the IOC and Tokyo Organising Committee.