2020 Summer Olympics Officially Postponed Until 2021

While we’ve known for a while now that the suspension of domestic leagues would continue for quite some time, and that UEFA Euro 2020 would not be taking place as scheduled and would be postponed, nobody knew for sure what was going to happen with the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Now, the confirmation has come through that the Games will be officially postponed until 2021.

An odd situation

“The unprecedented and unpredictable spread of the outbreak has seen the situation in the rest of the world deteriorating. Yesterday, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the COVID-19 pandemic is “accelerating”. There are more than 375,000 cases now recorded worldwide and in nearly every country, and their number is growing by the hour.

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.

The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present. Therefore, it was agreed that the Olympic flame will stay in Japan. It was also agreed that the Games will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.”

The hope and belief has always been that they would be able to get the Gams on somehow, some way, but now, it’s evident that was never going to be a realistic prospect.

Since the confirmation came through, there has also been a further statement issued.

Truly bizarre

“We value the efforts to safeguard our people’s health through the postponement of major public events, in particular the decision by the International Olympic Committee to reschedule the Olympic Games to a date no later than summer 2021. We commend Japan’s determination to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 in their complete form as a symbol of human resilience.”

Nobody knows what direction we’re going to be taken in next by this horrendous coronavirus outbreak, but if nothing else, we hope that it helps to bring people together.

At such desperate points in human history, that’s one of the only things you can really hope for. The Summer Olympics will take place next year, and in the grand scheme of things, that’s a price we should all be willing to pay in the name of the health of millions around the world.

Whether or not the financial implications are greater than we all think is a different matter altogether. Still, though, while we’re intrigued to see how football is able to bounce back, we just hope and pray that all of you out there are as safe as you possibly can be.