The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced a first-of-its-kind postponement of the Summer Olympics, bowing to the realities of a coronavirus pandemic that is shutting down daily life around the globe and making planning for a massive worldwide gathering in July a virtual impossibility.

The IOC said the Tokyo Games must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020, but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community. 

It was an announcement seen as all but a certainty as pressure mounted from nervous athletes, sports organizations and national Olympic committees, all confronting the reality that training and qualifying schedules, to say nothing of international anti-doping protocols, had been ruptured beyond repair.

IOC president Thomas Bach and Japanese prime minister Abe Shinzo held discussions, and they, along with a handful of executives from the IOC and Japan’s organizing committee, agreed to make the call.

It is a huge blow to Japan, which has invested $12 billion in preparations. 

What happens next?

The Tokyo Games would still be called the 2020 Olympics, even though they will be held in 2021.

The Olympic flame, already lit at Olympia in Greece and taken to Japan for a now-cancelled torch relay, will be stored and displayed in Fukushima.

One reason the IOC took longer to make the decision was because it wanted to figure out logistics. It will be a daunting challenge. Many of the arenas, stadiums and hotels are under contract for Games to be held from July 24-August 7.  Remaking those arrangements is doable, but will come at a cost.

There’s also the matter of the international sports schedule. Virtually all 33 sports on the Olympic programme have key events, including world championships, on the docket for 2021. 

Past boycotts and cancellations

Summer Olympics were cancelled thrice before because of war.

*1916 - Berlin, World War I

*1940 - Tokyo, World War II

*1944 - London, World War II

Other major issues in Olympics history

* 1908: The Games were due to be hosted in Rome but were moved to London in 1906 when the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius led Italy to divert funds to the rebuilding of Naples.

* 1948 (London): Germany and Japan were not invited due to their role in World War II while the Soviet Union did not participate.

* 1956 (Melbourne): Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon did not participate due to the Suez Crisis.

Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland and Cambodia boycotted the Games because of the Soviet Union’s participation.

China boycotted the Games as Taiwan was allowed to compete and only returned to competing in 1980.

* 1964 (Tokyo): North Korea, China and Indonesia boycotted the Games after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to allow athletes who competed in the rival Games of the New Emerging Forces in Jakarta the year before.

South Africa was barred from participating during the apartheid era in 1964 and was expelled from the IOC in 1970. The country was re-admitted to the IOC in 1991 and allowed to compete at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

* 1972 (Munich): 11 Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinians who broke into the Olympic Village and events were suspended for more than 24 hours before the Games resumed.

Rhodesia was banned from taking part a week before the Games when African countries threatened a boycott.

* 1976 (Montreal): 29 countries, mainly African, boycotted the Games after the IOC refused to ban New Zealand, whose rugby team had toured South Africa that year.

Taiwan withdrew because Canada did not allow them to compete as the Republic of China.

* 1980 (Moscow): 66 countries, led by the United States, boycotted the Games due to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan although some athletes participated under the Olympic flag.

* 1984 (Los Angeles): 14 countries, including the Soviet Union, East Germany and its allies boycotted the Games in response to the American-led boycott in 1980.

* 1988 (Seoul): North Korea and Cuba boycotted the Games while five others either did not respond to the invitation or were unable to send athletes due to financial constraints. 

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