Tokyo Olympics To Begin July 23 Next Year After Delay Due To Virus

Ayano Shimizu

The Tokyo Olympics will be held from July 23 to Aug. 8 in 2021, organizers said Monday, after they were forced to make an unprecedented decision last week to postpone the quadrennial sporting extravaganza for about a year in response to the global coronavirus pandemic, Kyodo News reported.

The Paralympic Games will take place between Aug. 24 and Sept. 5, 2021 in the Japanese capital, said the organizers, who decided from among several proposed time frames, including springtime, to avoid major conflicts with the international sports calendar.

“The first-ever postponement of the games has brought up challenges and problems. But I’m sure that deciding the new dates quickly will allow us to speed up our preparations,” Tokyo Games organizing committee President Yoshiro Mori told a press conference in Tokyo after agreeing on the new schedule with the International Olympic Committee in a teleconference.

“We also thought it will