TOKYO (AP) โ€” The Tokyo Olympics were postponed until 2021 on Tuesday, ending weeks of speculation that the games could not go ahead as scheduled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The International Olympic Committee made the decision after speaking with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and local organizers.
The IOC said the games will be held โ€œnot later than summer 2021โ€ but they will still be called the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
โ€œIn the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community,โ€ the IOC said in a statement.

Before the official announcement, Abe said Bach had agreed with his proposal for a one-year postponement.
โ€œPresident Bach said he will agree โ€˜100%,โ€™ and we agreed to hold the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in the summer of 2021 at the latest,โ€ Abe said, saying holding the games next year would be โ€œproof of a victory by human beings against the coronavirus infections.โ€
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On Sunday, Bach said a decision on postponing the games would be made in the next four weeks. But pressure grew as national federations, sports governing bodies and athletes spoke out against having the opening ceremony as planned on July 24.
Four-time Olympic hockey champion Hayley Wickenheiser was the first IOC member to break ranks with Bachโ€™s stance that the games would go ahead as planned when she publicly criticized the bodyโ€™s unwavering strategy.

After the announcement to postpone the game, sheย wrote on Twitterย that the decision was the โ€œmessage athletes deserved to hear.โ€
โ€œTo all the athletes: take a breath, regroup, take care of yourself and your families. Your time will come,โ€ she wrote.
The decision came only a few hours after local organizers said the torch relay would start as planned on Thursday. It was expected to start in northeastern Fukushima prefecture, but with no torch, no torchbearers and no public. Those plans also changed.

โ€œFor the time being, the flame will be stored and displayed in Fukushima,โ€ organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori said.
The Olympics have never before been postponed, and have only ever previously been canceled in wartime.
Organizers will now have to figure out how to keep things running for another year, while making sure venues are up to date for possible another 12 months.
โ€œA lot can happen in one year, so we have to think about what we have to do,โ€ said Toshiro Muto, the CEO of the organizing committee. โ€œThe decision came upon us all of a sudden.โ€
The IOC and Tokyo organizers said they hope the decision to postpone will help the world heal from the pandemic.
โ€œThe leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present,โ€ the IOC statement said. โ€œTherefore, it was agreed that the Olympic flame will stay in Japan. It was also agreed that the Games will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.โ€
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More AP sports:ย https://apnews.com/apf-sportsย andย https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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