By Antigoni Zachari / info@eurohoops.net
The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are going to be postponed and set to take place in 2021, with the details to be figured out in the next month, as International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound told USA TODAY Sports Monday.
“On the basis of the information the IOC has, the postponement has been decided,” Pound told USA Today in a phone interview. “The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know. It will come in stages. We will postpone this and begin to deal with all the ramifications of moving this, which are immense.”
Pound’s comments came soon after IOC President Thomas Bach indicated that postponing the Tokyo Games would be a possibility. The details, as well as an official announcement, are expected to be released soon.
However, earlier today for the first time, the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe acknowledged during a parliamentary session that the postponement of the Olympics is a necessity.
“When it comes to hosting the 2020 Games, I don’t believe the world is in any condition to do so at this time,” Abe said during a parliamentary session Monday.
Meanwhile, both the Canadian and the Australian Olympic Committees have announced that they would not send their athletes to Japan under the current conditions. The Canadiens even clarified that the pre-Olympic basketball qualifying tournament in their country is about to be postponed.