New dates for Olympic Games confirmed for 2021
Mar 30, 2020, 6:45 AM | Updated: 6:45 am
A man wearing a face mask walks before the logo of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games displayed on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building in Tokyo on March 24, 2020. - The International Olympic Committee came under pressure to speed up its decision about postponing the Tokyo Games on March 24 as athletes criticised the four-week deadline and the United States joined calls to delay the competition. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP) (Photo by KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo by KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images)
(CNN) — The postponed Tokyo Olympics will be held from July 23 to August 8 in 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has confirmed.
An agreement was reached on Monday after a call between leaders from the IOC, Tokyo 2020 organizers, the Japanese government and the International Paralympic Committee.
The Summer Games had been scheduled to run from July 24 to August 8 this year, but it was announced last week by Bach and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the Olympics had been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The new dates for the Paralympic Games are August 24 to September 5, 2021.
“Humankind currently finds itself in a dark tunnel,” Bach said in a statement. “These Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 can be a light at the end of this tunnel.
“With this announcement, 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.”
The IOC says the decision on the new dates was taken “to protect the health of the athletes and everyone involved, and to support the containment of the COVID-19 virus.”
More to follow…
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