Daily US Times: The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) executive board on Monday to make the decision that the Tokyo Olympics will start on 23 July 2021 and run to 8 August after being postponed for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Paralympic Games, which was originally due to start on 25 August 2020, will now take place between 24 August and 5 September 2021.

Despite taking place in 2021, the Olympics will be called Tokyo 2020.

IOC president Thomas Bach expressed his hope to organize a successful Olympics in the rescheduled time with working together with the Japanese Government, the Olympics organizing committee and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

“Humankind currently finds itself in a dark tunnel. These Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 can be a light at the end of this tunnel,” Mr Bach said.

International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons announced an extra-special display of humanity uniting as one, a global celebration of human resilience and a sensational showcase of sport.

Andrew Parsons said: “With the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games 512 days away, the priority for all those involved in the Paralympic movement must be to focus on staying safe with their friends and family during this unprecedented and difficult time.”

Last week, Japan and OIC agreed to postponed the Tokyo Olympics to protect the health of the athletes and everyone involved and to support the containment of the Covid-19 virus.

After the men’s football European Championship was postponed to the summer of 2021, the new dates also took into consideration the rest.

The World Athletics Championships will now be postponed until 2022. The event was originally set to take place in Oregon, USA, between 6 August and 15 August 2021.

The Olympics have never been rescheduled since 1944. The world’s biggest sporting event was canceled only three times, in 1916, 1940 and 1944, because of world wars.

Japan’s Olympic minister Seiko Hashimoto said in the past that her country was planning for a “complete” hosting of the Games, which she explained meant an Olympics which “started on time and with spectators in attendance.”

Then last week, the IOC said for the first time that the organization was considering a number of different options including a postponement or modifying the Games so they could still take place as scheduled in July.

Meanwhile, this year’s Wimbledon is going to be cancelled. German Tennis Federation (DTB) vice-president Dirk Hordorff confirmed the news.

All England Club (AELTC), the organizer of the tournament called an urgent meeting Wednesday and is expected to make a final decision on the grand slam event, which is set to begin on June 29.

Last week in a statement, the AELTC said it had been evaluating all possible scenarios, including both postponement and cancellation, amid the coronavirus outbreak.