Olympic Games 2020 Postponed to 2021

Today’s joint statement made to the world by the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, that it has decided to postpone the Summer Olympics originally scheduled for this year to 2021, has come as welcome news to athletes and coaches of our sport of athletics around the world.

The statement reads in part, 

In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community. 

The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present. Therefore, it was agreed that the Olympic flame will stay in Japan. It was also agreed that the Games will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.

It was only on Sunday last, 22 March 2020, that the World Athletics President, Lord Sebastian Coe, informed the IOC President by letter of the same date, that acting on the recommendation of all of the organizations Area Associations and athletes, he was requesting the postponement of the Summer Olympics. 

World Athletics the first international federation (IF) to make such a request. No sooner had this been done than some National Olympic Committees (NOC) and other IFs followed suit.

We continue to lead the world in making decisions that are in the best interest of our athletes without whom there can be no sport.

We therefore welcome the decision of the IOC and look forward to what would inevitably mean a radical yet comprehensive review of the Calendar of our sport over the next few years.

We may recall that earlier this year we re-scheduled the World Indoors to the first quarter of 2021.

2021 is also the year in which we are supposed to host the World Outdoors. Depending on the dates agreed upon re the Olympics, the scheduled dates will have to be revisited.

World Athletics is expected to make a statement soon on the postponement of the World Juniors originally scheduled for July 2020 in Kenya.

In the Caribbean, we are already reviewing the annual Carifta Games for 2020 which we postponed almost two weeks ago and the implications for the 50^th anniversary edition scheduled for 2021.
We can expect all of NACAC’s events to be revisited as well.

We ask all of our athletes, coaches, technical officials and administrators to stay safe.

God Bless