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tokyo olympics 2020

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North Korea has announced it will skip the Tokyo Olympics this year, saying the decision is to protect its athletes from Covid-19.

Pyongyang’s decision puts an end to South Korea’s hopes of using the Games to engage with the North amid stalled cross-border talks.

In 2018, North and South Korea entered a joint team at the Winter Olympics which led to a series of historic summits.

North Korea says it has no cases of the virus but experts say this is unlikely.

The announcement makes North Korea the first major country to skip the delayed 2020 Games because of the pandemic. The event is due to begin on 23 July.

Tokyo Olympics to Start on July 23, 2021

Coronavirus: Tokyo 2020 Olympics Postponed Until 2021

This will be the first time North Korea has missed a Summer Olympics since 1988, when it boycotted the Seoul Games during the Cold War.

According to a report by the state-run site Sports in the DPRK, the decision was made at an Olympic committee meeting on March 25.

North Korea has taken stringent measures against the coronavirus since it broke out last year.

It shut its borders in late January and later quarantined hundreds of foreigners in its capital.

Since early 2020, trains and wagons have been forbidden to enter or leave North Korea, with most international passenger flights stopped as well.

There were hopes from South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in that the Games could be a catalyst for progress between both Koreas.

That had been the case in 2018, when North Korea sent 22 athletes to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, along with government officials, journalists and a 230-member cheering group.

Among the contingent was North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong – a move which helped it initiate diplomacy with South Korea and the US.

The talks that followed led to a series of historic, high-profile meetings between Kim Jong-un and former President Donald Trump.

There were hopes for improved relations after the meetings, but nothing materialized and the atmosphere has since deteriorated.

Meanwhile, in Japan, an Olympic preparatory event was canceled after Covid infections broke out at a training camp for the Japanese water polo team – with seven people testing positive for the virus.

It follows the announcement that the Osaka leg of the Olympic torch relay will be canceled after infections in the city hit record highs.

There have been growing concerns in Japan that more infectious strains of the virus could be driving a potential fourth Covid-19 wave in the country.

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Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The IOC has decided that the Tokyo Olympic Games will start on July 23, 2021 and run to August 8 after being postponed for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

On March 30, the International Olympic Committee’s executive board met to make the decision.

The Olympics will still be called Tokyo 2020 despite taking place in 2021.

The Paralympic Games, originally due to start on August 24, 2020, will now take place between August 24 and September 5, 2021.

IOC president Thomas Bach said: “I am confident that, working together with the Tokyo 2020 Organizing 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.”

The decision to postpone both events was taken to protect the health of the athletes and everyone involved, and to support the containment of the new coronavirus.

Coronavirus: Tokyo 2020 Olympics Postponed Until 2021

The new dates also took into consideration the rest of the global sports calendar after the men’s soccer European Championship was postponed to the summer of 2021.

The World Athletics Championships, originally set to take place in Oregon, USA, between August 6 and August 15, 2021, will now be postponed until 2022.

Olympic organizers hope the delay will allow sufficient time to finish the qualification process which will follow the same mitigation measures planned for 2020.

It has previously been confirmed that all athletes already qualified and quota places already assigned will remain unchanged.

Purchased tickets would be valid for rescheduled events or a refund could be requested when the new dates were set, organizers previously confirmed.

On March 24, Japan’s PM Abe Shinzo said the Games would be held in their “complete form” and no later than summer 2021.

Tokyo 2020 organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori said he had proposed the July 23 to August 8 timeframe to the IOC, and that Thomas Bach had agreed, following consultations with the international sports federations.

It is the first time in the Olympic Games’ 124-year modern history that they have been delayed, though they were cancelled altogether in 1916 because of World War One and again in 1940 and 1944 for World War Two. Cold War boycotts affected the summer Games in Moscow and Los Angeles in 1980 and 1984 respectively.

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The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games have been postponed until 2021 because of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

The Olympics, due to begin on July 24, will now take place “no later than summer 2021”.

Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe: “I proposed to postpone for a year and [IOC] president Thomas Bach responded with 100% agreement.”

The event will still be called Tokyo 2020 despite taking place in 2021.

In a joint statement, the event’s organizers and the IOC said: “The unprecedented and unpredictable spread of the outbreak has seen the situation in the rest of the world deteriorating.

“On Monday, the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the Covid-19 pandemic is ‘accelerating’.

“There are more than 375,000 cases now recorded worldwide and in nearly every country, and their number is growing by the hour.

“In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today [Tuesday], the IOC president and the prime minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo 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.”

The IOC had given itself a deadline of four weeks to consider delaying the Games but there had been mounting pressure from a host of Olympic committees and athletes demanding a quicker decision.

On March 22, Canada became the first major country to withdraw from both events, while USA Track and Field, athletics’ US governing body, had also called for a postponement.

International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons said the postponement was “the only logical option”.

Andrew Parsons added: “The health and wellbeing of human life must always be our number-one priority and staging a sporting event of any kind during this pandemic is simply not possible.

“Sport is not the most important thing right now, preserving human life is. It is essential, therefore, that all steps are taken to try to limit the spread of this disease.

“By taking this decision now, everyone involved in the Paralympic movement, including all Para-athletes, can fully focus on their own health and wellbeing and staying safe during this unprecedented and difficult time.”

The Olympics have never been delayed in their 124-year modern history, though they were canceled altogether in 1916, 1940 and 1944 during World War One and World War Two.

Major Cold War boycotts disrupted the Moscow and Los Angeles summer Games in 1980 and 1984.

The Tokyo 2020-IOC joint statement continued: “The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present.

“Therefore, it was agreed that the Olympic flame will stay in Japan. It was also agreed that the Games will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.”

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Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The Tokyo Olympic Games will go ahead as planned in July, despite coronavirus concerns resulting in the postponement of sporting events, Japan PM Shinzo Abe said.

The prime minister added the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would have the final decision whether Tokyo 2020 goes ahead.

He said: “We will overcome the spread of the infection and host the Olympics without problem, as planned.”

Japan has had more than 1,400 cases and 28 deaths resulting from coronavirus.

According to organizers, the Tokyo Games is expected to cost about 1.35 trillion yen.

Tokyo 2020: Olympic Games Logo Scrapped over Plagiarism Allegations

The Japan section of the Olympic Torch relay is due to start in Fukushima on March 26. The recent torch-lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia was held without spectators, before the rest of the relay in Greece was suspended to avoid attracting crowds.

Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike said: “We’re taking thorough infection measures with regards to the torch relay domestically.”

Several Olympic trials events in the US have been postponed, including wrestling, rowing and diving.

The Tokyo Olympic Games will go ahead as planned in July, despite coronavirus concerns resulting in the postponement of sporting events, Japan PM Shinzo Abe said.

The prime minister added the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would have the final decision whether Tokyo 2020 goes ahead.

He said: “We will overcome the spread of the infection and host the Olympics without problem, as planned.”

Japan has had more than 1,400 cases and 28 deaths resulting from coronavirus.

According to organizers, the Tokyo Games is expected to cost about 1.35 trillion yen.

The Japan section of the Olympic Torch relay is due to start in Fukushima on March 26. The recent torch-lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia was held without spectators, before the rest of the relay in Greece was suspended to avoid attracting crowds.

Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike said: “We’re taking thorough infection measures with regards to the torch relay domestically.”

Several Olympic trials events in the US have been postponed, including wrestling, rowing and diving.

Hakubun Shimomura, the Japanese sports minister, has resigned over canceled plans for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Stadium.

British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid’s original design was ditched in July as estimated building costs almost doubled, reaching $2 billion.

Hakubun Shimomura said he had been asked to stay on until a planned cabinet reshuffle, but would repay some salary.

A new stadium design is due to be chosen by November.

Concerns have already been raised about whether that design will be completed in time for 2020 – the first time Tokyo has hosted the Summer Games since 1964.

As well as objections to its ballooning cost, Zaha Hadid’s design was criticized by some in Tokyo for its similarly huge size and its unusual shape.

A close ally of conservative PM Shinzo Abe, Hakubun Shimomura runs the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, which is in charge of overseeing the Olympic Games.Japan Sports Minister Hakubun Shimomura Resigns

Speaking at a press conference at his ministry following a meeting with the prime minister, Hakubun Shimomura said he told Shinzo Abe he wanted to take responsibility for the stadium problems.

“It is true that this has caused much concern and inconvenience,” he said.

Hakubun Shimomura added that he had first heard of the inflating costs and delays in April, “which is why I have decided to return the six months’ worth of pay I have received from that day onwards”.

His offer to quit came after an independent investigation into the fiasco.

Local reports said the panel pinned responsibility on the government body overseeing the project, the Japan Sports Council, and Hakubun Shimomura’s ministry. Former PM Yoshiro Mori, president of Tokyo’s organizing committee, was also blamed.

Plans to host the 2019 Rugby World Cup have also been thrown into doubt by the cancelation of Zaha Hadid’s original plans, as organizers now have to find an alternative final venue.

Olympic organizers are also looking for a new logo, after a Belgian artist complained that a logo he designed for a theater had been copied.

Those allegations have been denied by both Olympic organizers and the Japanese logo designer himself but he admitted his team did copy other work in the past, and the Tokyo Games committee said too many doubts had been raised for it to be used.