COVID-19: Fate of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Lahore, 24th March: The speculations surrounding the fate of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have been finally addressed on Tuesday as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe confirmed the postponement of the Summer Games of the XXXII Olympiad to 2021 due to the catastrophic Coronavirus pandemic.

According to the reports, the decision to delay the Tokyo Olympics has come in the aftermath of the pandemic that has halted almost every major sporting extravaganza.

According to the latest developments, Japan had presented the proposal to delay the 2020 Summer Games to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach as both parties found themselves under the pump to call off the Tokyo spectacle due to quickly spreading novel coronavirus.

COVID-19: WHO declares the virus ‘airborne’

The IOC chief had a telephonic conversation with the Japanese premier Abe, Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike along with several other upper echelons representing the Japanese Olympics minister.

According to the news agency Reuters, both parties have unanimously agreed to the postponement of the Summer Games to one year. Both Bach and Abe agreed 100% on the proposal for a year delay for the Tokyo Olympics. “I proposed to postpone for about a year and president Bach responded with 100 percent agreement,” Shinzo Abe told reporters referring to the head of the IOC.

Postponement ‘testament to defeat of Coronavirus’:

Abe said that the postponed Summer Games will be held next year as a “testament” to humanity’s triumph over the deadly coronavirus pandemic. The Japanse PM added that he had ‘secured’ the postponement agreement from Bach to host the spectacle ‘in a complete form as a testament to mankind’s defeat of the new virus’. The Tokyo governor has revealed that the delayed Olympic Games will still be called ‘Tokyo 2020’.

IOC releases join statement with Tokyo Olympics Organisers:

In a joint statement after completed their conference call this morning, the IOC and Tokyo Olympics Organisers have asserted that both Bach and PM Abe expressed their shared concern about the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic that has tormented people’s lives in the most significant manner.