The Tokyo Olympics will open next year in the same time slot scheduled for this year’s games.

Tokyo organizers in a statement had said that ”The Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony will take place on July 23, 2021 – almost exactly one year after the games, which were due to start this year.

A few weeks ago, the IOCNSE 4.97 % and Japanese organizers postponed the Olympics until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

This year’s games were scheduled to open on July 24 and close on Aug. 9. But the near exact one-year delay will see the rescheduled

“The schedule for the games is key to preparing for the games,” Tokyo organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori said. “This will only accelerate our progress.”

There had been talk of switching the Olympics to spring, a move that would coincide with the blooming of Japan’s famous cherry blossoms. But it would also clash with European soccer and North American sports leagues.
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Mori said a spring Olympics was considered but holding the games later gives more space to complete the many qualifying events that have been postponed by the virus outbreak.
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“We wanted to have more room for the athletes to qualify,” Mori said.
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After holding out for weeks, local organizers and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) last week postponed the Tokyo Games under pressure from athletes, national Olympic bodies and sports federations. It’s the first postponement in Olympic history, though there were several cancellations during wartime.
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.Both Tokyo organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori and CEO Toshiro Muto have said the cost of rescheduling will be “massive” – local reports estimate billions of dollars – with most of the expenses borne by Japanese taxpayers
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.The new Olympic dates would conflict with the scheduled world championships in track and swimming, but those events are now expected to also be pushed back
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“These new dates(of Olympic) give the health authorities and all involved in the organization of the Games the maximum time to deal with the constantly changing landscape and the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the IOC said. “The new dates … also have the added benefit that any disruption that the postponement will cause to the international sports calendar can be kept to a minimum, in the interests of the athletes and the International Sports Federations (IFs).”