The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Japan announced on Tuesday 24 March the decision to postpone to 2021 the Olympic Games (OG) in Tokyo, which were originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August.
The decision was taken against the backdrop of an accelerating worldwide pandemic of the Covid-19 Coronavirus type. The global health crisis had already led to a boycott of the Games by teams of Canada and Australia. The IOC acknowledged that the outbreak could not be safely contained by next summer, potentially putting both athletes and spectators at risk.
This is the first time in the long history of the Olympic Games that they have been postponed. Especially as they will be held in an odd year, another exception to this event. So far they have simply been cancelled three times, in 1916, 1940 and 1944, during the two world wars.
While organizers and tourism actors have to reorganize themselves with this new crisis that will impact the Japanese economy, the new date of the event has not been released yet, only the year 2021 having been mentioned