Lausanne, Switzerland, March 30, 2020: The International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Government of Japan today (Monday, March 30) agreed new dates for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in 2021.
The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be celebrated from July 23 to August 8, 2021. The Paralympic Games will be held from August 24 to September 5, 2021.
The leadership of the key parties came together via telephone conference earlier today - IOC President Thomas Bach, Tokyo 2020 President Yoshiro Mori, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike and Olympic and Paralympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto - and agreed on the new schedule.
This decision was taken based on three main considerations and in line with the principles established by the IOC Executive Board on March 17, 2020 and confirmed at its meeting today. These were supported by all the International Summer Olympic Sports Federations (IFs) and all the National Olympic Committees (NOCs):
1. To protect the health of the athletes and everyone involved, and to support the containment of the COVID-19 virus.
2. To safeguard the interests of the athletes and of Olympic sport.
3. The global international sports calendar.
The new dates also have the added benefit that any disruption to the international sports calendar can be kept to a minimum in the interests of the athletes and the IFs.
Additionally, they will provide sufficient time to finish the qualification process. The same heat mitigation measures as planned for 2020 will be implemented.
Following today’s decision, the IOC President said: “I want to thank the International Federations for their unanimous support and the Continental Associations of National Olympic Committees for the great partnership and their support in the consultation process over the last few days.
“With this announcement, I am confident that we can master this unprecedented challenge.”
The Olympic Games 2020 were due to take place from July 24 to August 9 and the Paralympics from August 25 to September 6.
Source: www.olympic.org