Tokyo Olympics Rescheduled for July to August 2021 Due to Coronavirus

The International Olympic Committee has earmarked the date of July 23, 2021, for the Tokyo Olympics to begin after being postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.   

On Monday, the International Olympic Committee, International Paralympic Committee, Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced the Games will take place from July 23-Aug. 8 next year. The announcement also noted the Paralympic Games will take place from Aug. 24-Sept. 5 of 2021.

The 2020 Olympics were originally scheduled to take place from July 24-Aug. 9 in Japan's capital city. Following a recommendation from Japanese prime minister Abe Shinzo, the IOC announced on March 24 the event would be postponed to a date beyond 2020 but no later than the summer of 2021.

Yoshiro Mori, Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee president, ruled out the spring of 2021 as a possible new timeframe.

"I want to offer some conclusions by the end of next week after we've mulled it over," he said on Nippon Television, via USA Today's Scott Gleeson. "The Games are meant to be in summer, so we should be thinking of a time between June and September."

Tariq Panja of the New York Times reported on March 28 that the IOC was looking at July 23, 2021 as the start date for the Games. 

He also noted that as soon as the official date was set, the next order of business will be reorganizing all of the qualifying events that were impacted by the coronavirus. 

This year marked the first time the Olympics had to be postponed during peacetime. It was canceled in 1916 due to World War I and again in 1940 and 1944 due to World War II.