The Tokyo 2020 Olympics have been postponed to summer 2021. Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan, met with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and proposed the Summer 2020 Olympic Games be postponed. For the first time in history, the Olympics will not go on as scheduled.
The Olympics were scheduled to begin on July 24, 2020, but the coronavirus has spread around the world and become a global pandemic since the Games were originally scheduled. Needless to say, circumstances have changed drastically.
IOC officials were under a lot of pressure to postpone the Olympics. Both Canadian and Australian officials announced they would not send athletes to the games if they were not postponed and other countries were likely to join in that stance. President Donald Trump also suggested that the games be postponed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the IOC attempted to keep the games on for 2020, they had to finally give in and postpone the event.
The Olympic torch relay will also be rescheduled. In the meantime, the torch will be on display in Fukushima.