For the first time since World War II, the Olympic Games will not go on as scheduled.
The Tokyo Summer Olympics has officially been postponed until next year, it was announced Tuesday, marking the first time the event has not gone on as scheduled since 1944, when the Summer and Winter Games were canceled due to World War II.
There had been significant pressure on the International Olympic Committee to delay the event, with the Canadian and Australian Olympic committees saying in recent days that they would not send their athletes to the Games unless they were delayed.
Despite being pushed back to 2021, the Olympics will still keep 2020 in its official titles.
The Olympics joins an exhaustive list of sporting events cancelled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The NCAA canceled all of its winter and spring championships, from the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments to the men’s and women’s College World Series. The NBA and NHL seasons are on hold and Major League Baseball Opening Day — originally set for this Thursday — has been pushed back.
There has been no official date set for when the Olympics will take place next summer, assuming that conditions have even died down enough by then for it to take place.
[News from Olympic.org 3.24]
