The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo is officially postponed.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he and International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach have mutually agreed that it is in the athletes’ best interest to push the Games off until the summer of 2021. It marks the first time in Olympic history that a global health crisis has suspended the Games.
The announcement comes after mounting worldwide pressure to postpone the Olympics, and several nations vowing to skip the Games if it wasn’t postponed. (NBC News)
Hot Takes:
- There was really no way to avoid this.
- You have to feel bad for the athletes who have trained so hard and for so long to compete in these Olympics.
- Some athletes who were supposed to compete may not be able to next year. Maybe they’ll get injured over the next year. Maybe they’re already at the end of their careers. Maybe they won’t qualify next year.
- Japan is going to lose billions in dollars, but hopefully they’ll make it all up next year.
- Darn, I was really looking forward to beach volleyball this summer.