One week after it said that the COVID-19 pandemic would not delay the Tokyo Summer Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on Monday that the event has been postponed, most likely until 2021.
Speaking with USA Today, IOC member Dick Pound said that details regarding the postponement will be worked out over the next month.
“On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided,” Pound said. “The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know. It will come in stage. We will postpone this and begin to deal with all the ramifications of moving this, which are immense.”
The announcement came just one day after IOC President Thomas Bach sent a letter to athletes claiming that the committee had ruled out canceling the Olympics but were exploring new ways to safely stage the games during this unprecedented pandemic. He also noted that postponing the games will be “an extremely complex challenge.”
“Together with all the stakeholders, we have started detailed discussions today to complete our assessment of the rapid development of the worldwide health situation and its impact on the Olympic Games, including a scenario of postponement,” Bach wrote in the letter. “We are working very hard, and we are confident that we will have finalized these discussions within the next four weeks.”
“A number of critical venues needed for the Games could potentially not be available anymore,” he continued. “The situations with millions of nights already booked in hotels is extremely difficult to handle, and the international sports calendar for at least 33 Olympic sports would have to be adapted. These are just a few of many, many more challenges.”
Following Bach’s letter, Canada told the IOC that they would not be sending a delegation of athletes to compete this year. Australia, Germany, Brazil, and Norway all immediately followed Canada’s lead on Monday and urged the IOC to postpone the Olympics until a later date.
Olympics cancellations aren’t unprecedented. The Summer Games and Winter Games were canceled in 1940 and 1944 due to World War II. In 1916, the Summer Games were canceled due to World War I.
On Sunday, Olympic gold medalist swimmer Cameron Van der Burgh said in a series of Twitter posts that COVID-19 is the “worst virus” he had ever endured and warned athletes about training to hard before the Summer Games.
“I have been struggling with Covid-19 for 14 days today. By far the worst virus I have ever endured despite being a healthy individual with strong lungs (no smoking/sport), living a healthy lifestyle and being young (least at-risk demographic),” he tweeted.
“Although the most severe symptoms (extreme fever) have eased, I am still struggling with serious fatigue and a residual cough that I can’t shake. Any physical activity like walking leaves me exhausted for hours,” he continued. “The loss in body conditioning has been immense and can only feel for the athletes that contract Covid-19 as they will suffer a great loss of current conditioning through the last training cycle. Infection closer to competition being the worst.”
