For the first time in its rich history, the Olympics will be postponed to a year after it was supposed to take place.
This after Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe and International Olympics Committee head Thomas Bach have come to a conclusion to postpone the Tokyo Games to not later than the summer of 2021.
By then, Japan hopes that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been controlled.
The NHK reported the development.
This follows the remarks made by IOC member Nick Pound telling USA Today that, “On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided. The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know.”
The Philippine Olympic Committee, headed by Bambol Tolentino, has supported the idea of postponing the global meet.
“It’s better to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Olympics rather than cancelation so as not to lose (Philippines) our chance for our first gold medal.”
Currently, there are four Filipinos who have secured an Olympic berth, namely gymnast Caloy Yulo, pole-vaulter EJ Obiena, and boxers Eumir Marcial and Irish Magno.
Many Filipinos are still looking to rack up needed points or win their respective qualifying tournaments to punch their ticket to Tokyo.
This will be the first time the Games have been postponed. The global event was canceled three times before (1916, 1940, 1944) due to war.
As of publishing, there have been 392,952 cases of COVID-19 worldwide. It has resulted in 17,151 deaths.
