By Richard Pagliaro | Monday March 30, 2020
The Tokyo Olympics have been officially scheduled for July of 2021.
Photo Source: Getty
The Tokyo Olympics have shifted one year in the schedule to July 2021.
The Tokyo Games will be staged from July 23rd to August 8th, 2021, the International Olympic Committee announced today.
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The Paralympic Games will be contested August 24th to September 5th, 2021.
The move was made to protect athletes, officials and fans amid the COVID-19 pandemic—and secure a spot in the calendar that will provide national governing bodies sufficient time to stage Olympic qualifying events.
Officials announced the new dates will give authorities the maximum amount of time to “deal with the constantly changing landscape and the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Tokyo Olympic Games were initially scheduled for July 24th to August 9th, 2020.
“Additionally, they will provide sufficient time to finish the qualification process,” the IOC said in a statement. “The same heat mitigation measures as planned for 2020 will be implemented.”
The IOC previously announced that all athletes “already qualified and quota places already assigned for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will remain unchanged. This is a result of the fact that these Olympic Games Tokyo, in agreement with Japan, will remain the Games of the XXXII Olympiad.”