Postponed Tokyo Olympics to Start on July 23, 2021

Tokyo, March 30 (Jiji Press)--The Tokyo Olympics, which has been postponed due to the global outbreak of the new coronavirus, will start on July 23, 2021, for a 17-day run, it was announced Monday. The new schedule was approved by the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee after being agreed by the organizing committee for the Tokyo Games, the Tokyo metropolitan government, the Japanese government and the IOC in a teleconference held on Monday night Japan time. The opening ceremony will be held on July 23 next year and the closing ceremony on Aug. 8. The Tokyo Summer Olympics was initially due to start on July 24 this year. Meanwhile, the Tokyo Paralympics will be held between Aug. 24 and Sept. 5, 2021, also about a year behind the original schedule. This was agreed by the Japanese side and the International Paralympic Committee. Last week, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and IOC President Thomas Bach agreed to postpone the Tokyo Games for about a year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. For the Olympics, an option of holding the games in spring 2021 to avoid Tokyo's summer heat was proposed. But the Japanese side and the IOC settled on the idea of setting the event for summer to secure more time for preparations as it is unclear when the coronavirus pandemic can be contained, sources familiar with the situation said. The Japanese side proposed to the IOC the July 23 opening of the rescheduled Olympics, taking into account such events as an election for the Tokyo metropolitan assembly, whose current members will see their terms of office end on July 22 next year, and the 76th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II on Aug. 15. "We have no choice but to move ahead with an unwavering resolve to hold the games in summer next year," Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo organizing committee, said. The organizing committee and the metropolitan government will soon start working on a series of challenges, including securing venues and volunteers for the Tokyo Games, ticket sales and the schedule for the torch relay. Costs to host the Tokyo Games are estimated to increase by at least hundreds of billions of yen, the sources said. In July and August 2021, the world championships for swimming and athletics are planned to take place. But international organizations hosting the events seem to be flexible about readjusting the schedules. In a statement on Monday, Bach said, "I am confident that, working together with the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee, the Tokyo metropolitan government, the Japanese government and all our stakeholders, we can master this unprecedented challenge." He added: "Humankind currently finds itself in a dark tunnel. These Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 can be a light at the end of this tunnel." IPC President Andrew Parsons commented: "It is fantastic news that we could find new dates so quickly for the Tokyo 2020 Games. The new dates provide certainty for the athletes, reassurance for the stakeholders and something to look forward to for the whole world." The IOC said that "These new dates give the health authorities and all involved in the organization of the games the maximum time to deal with the constantly changing landscape and the disruption" caused by the coronavirus pandemic." "The goal is now clear," Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike told a press conference held after Monday's teleconference, stressing the metropolitan government's determination to accelerate preparations for the rescheduled Olympics and Paralympics. The teleconference was held among Koike, Mori, Seiko Hashimoto, Japanese minister for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, and Bach. Koike said she told Bach that the world must win the fight with the new coronavirus in order to successfully hold the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The governor added that she asked the IOC chief to work together. While noting that the summer heat and possible typhoons will remain challenges for the rescheduled Olympics, Koike said that the marathon and race walk events are expected to be held in Sapporo, the capital of the northernmost Japan prefecture of Hokkaido, as planned. Last year, a decision was made to change the marathon and race walk venue to Sapporo from Tokyo to protect athletes and spectators from the Japanese capital's scorching summer heat. Japanese Olympic Committee President Yasuhiro Yamashita welcomed the swift rescheduling of the Tokyo Games in a statement released through the JOC public relations department, saying, "A new goal has been set for athletes and other people concerned, and a new road for them is now starting." END