The International Olympics Committee has officially announced that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have been postponed until 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak. Numerous countries had threatened to pull out of the Olympics before the decision was announced because they were afraid their athletes would get sick or bring the virus back to their loved ones. The United States, Australia, Canada, and others had announced that their athletes would not participate. The decision, however, was not announced until the coronavirus was found in Africa that an official decision was made.
Why have the Tokyo 2020 Olympics been cancelled?
Ahead of the arrival of the virus in Africa, officials hoped that the threat would be over by the July 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Still, with the virus just getting started there, it appears that the world may be dealing with this virus through July 2020. In addition, officials stated that the climbing number of people affected by the virus in the United States and South America factored into their decision.
Olympic officials became concerned on Sunday, March 22, 2020. They scheduled a conference call with officials in Japan for March 24, 2020, to discuss delaying the games. On Monday, the World Health Organization announced that the spread was accelerating. This announcement prompted Olympic officials to push for the postponement of the Olympic games.
While making the announcement the Tokyo Olympics Committee and the International Olympics Committee said, the move was to “safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community”.
Spring or summer, which season will host the Olympic Games?
An official decision has been made about new dates for the Tokyo Olympics or the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. The new dates: from 23 July to 8 August 2021. There are indications that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which will still be called by that name, will be postponed for almost exactly one year. There are numerous reasons that this will likely be the case. Holding the Olympics earlier would clash with various qualifying events that need to be held before the Olympics.
Chief among these are the U.S. Olympics Track and Field Trials. Numerous qualifying events in volleyball, baseball, and 3X3 basketball have been postponed. Boxers have seen numerous qualifying events delayed or canceled, including the cancellation of the World Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Freestyle bicyclists have seen the postponement of their World Series in Hiroshima. No firm decision has been made to have the Diving World Cup scheduled for Tokyo in April, but it is likely to be postponed. Officials have canceled the all-around World Cup event in Germany and have delayed the apparatus World Cup in Qatar.
Impact on the Japanese economy
The impact of the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is expected to have an approximate $2.5 billion impact on the Japanese economy. The way that the contract between the International Olympics Committee and the Tokyo Olympics Committee is written, the Japanese government will experience most of the lost. Officially, the government says that they have already spent $12.6 billion to host the Olympics. Economists at SMBC Nikko Securities estimate that the immediate effect will be a loss of $6 billion to the Japanese economy.
Mitsui Fudosan Company is one of the developers of the 5,632 apartments in Athlete’s Village. The plan called for these apartments to be sold off after the Olympics, with some costing more than $1 million. The company has stopped sales of those apartments, but it remains unclear what will happen with flats that have already been sold.
The worse damage to the Japanese economy, however, maybe the lack of consumer confidence. The country’s forecast was already off about 1 % over last year, and the delay could encourage consumers not to spend as much money. Additionally, the lack of tourists spending money may ripple throughout the Japanese economy.
