• World
  • Mar 31

Tokyo Olympics to open in July 2021

The Tokyo Olympics will begin on July 23 next year, organisers said after the coronavirus forced the historic decision to postpone the Games until 2021.

The Games were postponed last week — the first such delay in the 124-year history of the modern Olympics. — the first such delay in the 124-year history of the modern Olympics.

“The Olympics will be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021. The Paralympics will be held from August 24 to September 5,” Tokyo 2020 chief Yoshiro Mori said.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics were due to open on July 24 this year and run for 16 days, but the coronavirus pandemic forced the first peace-time postponement of the Games.

The postponement has handed organisers the unprecedented task of rearranging an event seven years in the making, and Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto has admitted the additional costs will be massive. According to the latest budget, the Games were due to cost $12.6 billion, shared between the organising committee, the government of Japan and Tokyo city.

International Olympic Committee

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is a not-for-profit independent international organisation that is committed to building a better world through sport. 

Created on 23 June 1894, just under two years before the first Olympic Games of the modern era in April 1896, the IOC is the supreme authority of the Olympic Movement.

Its headquarters is situated in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Acting as a catalyst for collaboration between all members of the Olympic family, from the National Olympic Committees (NOCs), the International Sports Federations, the athletes, the Organising Committees for the Olympic Games (OCOGs), to the top partners, broadcast partners and agencies from the United Nations, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) shepherds success through a wide range of programmes and projects.

On this basis it ensures the regular celebration of the Olympic Games, supports all affiliated member organisations of the Olympic Movement and strongly encourages, by appropriate means, the promotion of the Olympic values. It is governed according to high standard ethical rules.

The Olympic motto is made up of three Latin words:

Citius, Altius, Fortius. These words mean Faster, Higher, Stronger.

National Olympic Committees

The mission of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) is to develop, promote and protect the Olympic Movement in their respective countries.

The NOCs promote the fundamental principles of Olympism at a national level within the framework of sports. NOCs are committed to the development of athletes and support the development of sport for all programmes and high performance sport in their countries. They also participate in the training of sports administrators by organising educational programmes.

Another objective of the National Olympic Committees is to ensure that athletes from their respective nations attend the Olympic Games. Only an NOC is able to select and send teams and competitors for participation in the Olympic Games.

National Olympic Committees also supervise the preliminary selection of potential bid cities. Before a candidate city can compete against those in other countries, it first must win the selection process by the NOC in its own country. The National Olympic Committee can then name that city to the IOC as a candidate to host the Olympic Games.

Indian Olympic Association

India first participated in the Olympics in 1900 in Paris. The country was represented by Norman Pritchard, an Anglo-Indian who was holidaying in Paris during that time.

The seeds for creation of an organisation for coordinating the Olympic movement in India was related to India’s participation in the 1920 and 1924 Olympics, when Sir Dorabji Tata suggested the need for a sports body at national level for promoting Olympic sport in India. 

After the 1920 Games, the committee sending the team to these Games met, and, on the advice of Sir Dorabji Tata, invited Dr. A.G. Noehren (Physical Education Director of YMCA India) to also join them. 

Subsequently, in 1923-24, a provisional All India Olympic Committee was set up, which organised the All India Olympic Games (that later became the National Games of India) in February 1924. 

Eight athletes from these Games were selected to represent India at the 1924 Paris Summer Olympics, accompanied by manager Harry Crowe Buck. 

This gave impetus to the development and institutionalization of sports in India, and, in 1927, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was formed, with Sir Dorabji Tata as its founding president and Dr. A.G. Noehren as secretary. 

Over the years, the IOA undertook wider outreach with several National Sports Federations, and became a governance body that coordinated the sending of multiple sports teams – each selected by their respective National Sports Federations – to the Olympic Games. 

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store

Did You Know?
Olympic Day is celebrated on June 23. It was initiated in 1948 to commemorate the ‘Olympic Movement’.
Notes