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This news was inevitable. The IOC had made it clear over the past few weeks that it wanted to take its time in postponing the 2020 Olympics, but on Tuesday the Games were officially postponed due to The Big Cancel.
This official announcement comes just one day after both Australia and Canada said they would not be sending athletes to the Olympics. Given the current situation the entire world finds itself in and the fact that countries were deciding on their own to pull out of the Games, the IOC had to pull the plug.
The Games were set to begin on July 24, but they’ve now been pushed back around a year. Both Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and IOC President Thomas Bach agreed on the postponement for the Games to be played no later than the summer of 2021.
“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,” a joint statement from the IOC and the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee said, per the New York Post.
This is the first time the Olympics will not be held as scheduled since 1944 when both the summer and winter Games were canceled due to World War II.
It’s a shame for the athletes that have to wait at least another year to take the Olympic stage and it really stinks that us fans won’t be able to yell at our televisions and act like we’re well versed in track and field, diving and badminton.