The Inevitability: Tokyo Olympics Postponed Until 2021 Due To COVID-19

Whether you like it or not, this one was already inevitable.

If you plan to go to Japan for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which is originally slated to take place from July 24 to August 9 this year, you can drop it because the Tokyo Olympics won't take place this year. As the International Olympic Committee (IOC) through one of their members, Dick Pound said that the Olympics has been postponed for a year due to the outbreak of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). This announcement came in just days after sports officials in Japan called for the postponing of the said event. That, and the fact that Canada and Australia have announced that they will not be participating in the Tokyo Games. In addition to this, the United Kingdom, through the British Olympic Association (BOA) has announced UK's decision to withdraw from the Games, stating that they don't see any way the Olympics can still happen this way considering the way things are transpiring.  

Now, how the IOC will move on in terms of the Olympics will be decided in the next couple of days but one thing is certain as far as the IOC is concerned: the Games won't start on July 24. The IOC also noted that the committee along with the BOA will be dealing with the ramifications of the postponement of the Games in the coming weeks as the IOC will be dealing with the ramifications in stages.  

As of March 22, Japan has 1,046 confirmed cases of COVID-19 while the UK has 5,683 cases. With those numbers in mind, it's only the right call for the IOC to postpone the Games until such time when the virus is no longer a threat to humanity. After all, the one of the primary objectives of holding the Games is to show sportsmanship among humans. Whether the Games will happen in July 2021 or not is entirely a different question. 

Photo is from InsideHook