24, March 2020

International Olympic Committee sets deadline for decision on Tokyo games amid coronavirus 0

The International Olympic Committee is considering a postponement of the Tokyo 2020 games and has given itself a deadline of 4 weeks to make a decision.

The IOC’s executive board met on Sunday amid mounting pressure from athletes and national Olympic committees for the games to be delayed because of the coronavirus crisis.

The IOC said cancellation is not on the agenda but a scaled-down games will also be considered. However postponement by either several months or probably a whole year is thought to be the most likely outcome.

The development marks a significant shift by the IOC which as recently as 5 days ago, said it was “fully committed” to go-ahead with the Tokyo Olympics.