The Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics games that were scheduled to take place in July will now be held in the summer of next year, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.
The games were postponed after talks between Japan's PM Abe and the International Olympic Committee President, Thomas Bach.
The event has been cancelled due to the worldwide coronavirus
pandemic that has disrupted many other sporting events across the globe.
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In a joint statement, the organizers of Tokyo 2020 and the IOC said: "The unprecedented and unpredictable spread of the outbreak has seen
the situation in the rest of the world deteriorating.
An estimated 10,000 athletes were expected to take part in the Tokyo
2020 Olympics with over 600,000 visitors expected in Japan for the
event.
Though the event has been postponed to 2021, it will still be called Tokyo 2020.
History of Olympics Games cancellations
The cancellation of Tokyo 2020 Olympics is not the first time for
the Olympics games to be canceled bu it is the first time since the modern Olympic games were held in 1896.
In 1916, the games were canceled due to the outbreak of World War I. The
summer Olympics were meant to be held in Berlin.
In 1940, Tokyo beat Barcelona,Rome and Helsinki to host the Olympics in
1940 but the event was canceled due to the outbreak of the second war
between Japan and China resulting in Helsinki being awarded to host
the event but unfortunately the games had to be canceled altogether
due to World War II.
And now in 2020, the Tokyo Olympics have been canceled due to the
worldwide corona pandemic making it the second time in history for the
Tokyo Olympics to be canceled.
