TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese organizers and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided on Monday that the Tokyo Olympic Games would start on July 23, 2021, and run until Aug. 8, Kyodo news reported.
The Games were postponed last week due to the deepening coronavirus outbreak.
The delay is the first in the 124-year history of the modern Olympics and represents a huge blow for Japan, which invested $13 billion in the run-up to the event, and raised $3 billion from domestic sponsors.
Earlier on Monday, the Games’ chief executive, Toshiro Muto, said the committee was moving “in the direction” of honoring tickets bought for the 2020 Games at the rescheduled event, or providing refunds in case of scheduling changes,
“We want to honour the hopes of all those who purchased the tickets amid high demand,” Muto told a news conference.
But it was too early to say what the additional costs of the delay would be, Muto said.
The IOC and Japanese government succumbed to intense pressure from athletes and sporting bodies around the world last Tuesday by agreeing to push back the Games because of the coronavirus epidemic.
COVID-19 SHOULD
BE ACKNOWLEDGED
In Athens, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics must acknowledge the coronavirus crisis which forced their postponement and incorporate it into next year’s opening ceremony, executive producer Marco Balich said.
Balich, an Italian with great experience in producing Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, said the Japanese had almost completed preparations for this year.
The virus, however, put a stop to the Games and Balich’s international team are returning from Japan.
“I think for sure the Olympic ceremony which is a window of all humanity will have to reflect somehow or reference somehow what has happened,” Balich told Reuters in a phone interview from his home in Milan.
Balich has been confined to his house for the past three weeks with the virus having killed more than 10,000 people in his country and Italy in national lockdown. More than 34,000 have died worldwide.
“We already had prototypes and started rehearsals. We were in very good shape,” Balich said, adding he was grateful the Games were postponed.
