Report: Olympics to be postponed

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are being postponed, International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound said on Monday.

Pound told USA Today that the Games likely will be pushed back to 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, those he said the details still need to be worked out.

“On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided,” he told the newspaper in a phone interview. “The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know.”

The IOC, whose executive board announced Sunday it would take four weeks to assess the impact of the global health crisis, issued a response to Pound’s comments.

“It’s the right of every IOC member to interpret the decision of the IOC EB which was announced (Sunday),” read the statement, according to ESPN.

Pound told USA Today he thinks the IOC will announce its next steps soon.

“It will come in stages,” he said. “We will postpone this and begin to deal with all the ramifications of moving this, which are immense.”

The IOC has faced strong pressure to push back this summer’s Tokyo Games, scheduled to take place between July 24 and August 9.

On Sunday, IOC President Thomas Bach told athletes a decision on the Games would be made “within the next four weeks”. He acknowledged that postponing the 2020 Olympics is an option but added that cancellation of the Tokyo showpiece was “not on the agenda”.

Last week, UEFA, the governing body of European soccer, postponed its marquee championship, Euro 2020, until next week in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The NBA suspended its season after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for coronavirus.

It was followed by the NHL which suspended its season as well, and MLB which cancelled Spring Training and delayed the start of its regular season, which had been scheduled for March 26.