Olympic Games 'rescheduled' for 2021 due to coronavirus: Japanese PM

Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 have been rescheduled for 2021 in light of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, the International Olympics Committee (IOC) has confirmed.

"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 IOC said in a statement.

The decision came after IOC President Thomas Back and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a high-level meeting.

"I proposed to postpone for about a year and IOC President [Thomas] Bach responded with 100 percent agreement," Abe said.

“We agreed that a postponement would be the best way to ensure that the athletes are in peak condition when they compete and to guarantee the safety of the spectators.”

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