Everybody with an ounce of common sense knew this was coming. As most of the world shelters in place and watches anything semi-interesting on Netflix, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics stubbornly refused to admit they might have to postpone their July 24 start date. But a series of dominos quickly fell, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced the Olympics will be postponed to 2021.
In a joint statement with the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee, the IOC recognized that the continuing spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus made a July-August event reckless. “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,” they wrote.
To safeguard the health of the athletes and everyone involved in the Tokyo 2020 Games.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games will now take place no later than summer 2021.
— #Tokyo2020 (@Tokyo2020) March 24, 2020
This is the first time the Summer Olympics have ever been postponed. They were cancelled previously in 1916, 1940 and 1944, all due to war.
This comes just days after both Canada and Australia announced they would not attend the Olympics should they be held on their initial starting date. Both countries recognized that encouraging their athletes to continue training, and traveling to an event that should have massive crowds, would be unreasonable under current conditions.
Japan and the IOC’s decision to postpone the event doesn’t spell certain doom for July and August sports. The Olympics are a much bigger event than any individual sports league puts on, and require much more intense long term planning.
But they aren’t a positive sign either. For the NBA and NHL, who typically finish their seasons in June, the IOC’s decision to avoid a July-August event could spell doom for their seasons. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has said, and the NHL’s website confirms, that they will protect the 2020-2021 NHL season at all costs. With U.S. President Donald Trump predicting that arenas will remain closed through July, that leaves extremely little time for a Stanley Cup or NBA champion to be declared.
Even with the postponement, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will forever be called the 2020 Olympics. Apparently, it’s a little too late to change the branding.
https://twitter.com/saitomri/status/1242427872557404162
