The International Olympic Committee and the Japanese organizers announced new dates of the 32nd Olympic Games in 2021.
The Games will be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021.
Last week, the IOC and the organizers postponed the Games to 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, while the decision about the new dates was made today.
The leaderships of the key parties (the IOC, the Tokyo Organizing Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and the Government of Japan) held a telephone conference and agreed on the new schedule. The Paralympic Games will be staged from August 24 to September 5, 2021.
The IOC in today’s statement said:
“These new dates give the health authorities and all involved in the organization of the Games the maximum time to deal with the constantly changing landscape and the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The new dates, exactly one year after those originally planned for 2020 (Olympic Games: July 24 to August 9, 2020, and Paralympic Games: August 25 to September 6 2020), also have the added benefit that any disruption that the postponement will cause to the international sports calendar can be kept to a minimum, in the interests of the athletes and the IFs. Additionally, they will provide sufficient time to finish the qualification process. The same heat mitigation measures as planned for 2020 will be implemented.”
After this IOC’s decision, it is clear that the FINA must change dates of the World Championships in the aquatic sports in Fukuoka, which is scheduled for the second half of July next year (July 16 – August 1). But, the World Championships must be held after the Olympic Games. According to FINA’s regulations, the water polo tournament in Tokyo is a part of the qualifications for the World Championships.
In today’s statement, IOC again confirmed that all athletes already qualified and quota places already assigned for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will remain unchanged. These Olympic Games Tokyo, in agreement with Japan, will remain the Games of the XXXII Olympiad (the 32nd Olympic circle in history).
