The Olympics officially has a new start date.
Organizers announced Monday the Summer Olympics will take place in Tokyo from July 23, 2021 through Aug. 8, 2021, The New York Times reports.
That's a full year later than originally scheduled, but it was announced last week the games would be postponed as a result of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. At the time, the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee said the games would begin sometime "beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021."
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The International Olympic Committee said Monday the new 2021 dates "give the health authorities and all involved in the organisation of the games the maximum time to deal with the constantly changing landscape and the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic." The Associated Press reports there had previously been some discussion of moving the Olympics to the spring.
The Times notes that less than two weeks ago, the Olympics committee was saying that the games would proceed as scheduled in 2020, although a lot changed fairly quickly as the pressure for a postponement ramped up. Before the delay, Canada and Australia both said they wouldn't send athletes to the games should they still take place in July 2020. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 2020 Olympics name is still being retained, despite the new 2021 date.
"Humankind currently finds itself in a dark tunnel," IOC President Thomas Bach said on Monday. "These Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 can be a light at the end of this tunnel."
