Tokyo: New dates for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 were announced on Monday (March 30) by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). This year’s summer Olympics were postponed due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

After a telephone conference between IOC, International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and others, it was decided that Tokyo Olympics will be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021. The Paralympic Games will run from August 24 to September 5, 2021. Tokyo Olympics were scheduled to be held from July 24 to August 9, 2020.

Also read: IOC, Japan agree to postpone Tokyo Olympics

In a statement, IOC said, “The leaderships of the key parties came together via telephone conference earlier today, joined by IOC President Thomas Bach, Tokyo 2020 President Mori Yoshirō, Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko and Olympic and Paralympic Minister Hashimoto Seiko, and agreed on the new schedule.”

It added, “These new dates give the health authorities and all involved in the organisation of the Games the maximum time to deal with the constantly changing landscape and the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The new dates, exactly one year after those originally planned for 2020 (Olympic Games: 24 July to 9 August 2020 and Paralympic Games: 25 August to 6 September 2020), also have the added benefit that any disruption that the postponement will cause to the international sports calendar can be kept to a minimum, in the interests of the athletes.”

IOC president Thomas Bach said, “With this announcement, I am confident that, working together with the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Japanese Government and all our stakeholders, we can master this unprecedented challenge. Humankind currently finds itself in a dark tunnel. These Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 can be a light at the end of this tunnel.”

“It has previously been confirmed that all athletes already qualified and quota places already assigned for the Tokyo 2020 will remain unchanged. This is a result of the fact that these Olympic Games Tokyo , in agreement with Japan, will remain the Games of the XXXII Olympiad,” IOC said.