SPORT SPORTS | 03 SPORT | 04 Messi says Kobe's towel Barcelona from finale plplayersa taking sells for $33k 770% pay cut in auction TUESDAY 31 MARCH 2020 479 days to go: Tokyo resets Olympics clock AFP – TOKYO From ‘best prepared’ The Tokyo Olympics will begin on July 23 next year, organisers said to postponed: 2020 yesterday, after the coronavirus forced the historic decision to postpone the Games until 2021. Games’ rocky road The announcement comes less than a week after organisers were AFP – TOKYO forced to delay the Games under heavy pressure from athletes and Olympic officials regularly lauded Tokyo as the best sports federations as the global out- prepared host city they had seen. But no one could break worsened. have planned for the coronavirus pandemic that “The Olympics will be held from has forced an unprecedented postponement of the July 23 to August 8, 2021. The Para- 2020 Games. lympics will be held from August 24 Here, AFP Sport chronicles the path to to September 5,” Tokyo 2020 chief postponement. Yoshiro Mori told reporters at a hastily arranged news conference. A countdown clock 2013: TEARS OF JOY Only hours earlier, Mori had said shows the adjusted TV news presenters burst into tears and thou- he expected a decision from the time remaining for sands of people erupt in screams of delight as the International Olympic Committee the postponed Tokyo IOC awards the Games to Tokyo in September 2013. (IOC) during the course of the week. Olympic Games outside With emotions running high, the thoughts of But yesterday evening, he said Tokyo station, in many Japanese turn to the thousands of victims of an emergency teleconference had Tokyo, yesterday. The a devastating earthquake and tsunami in March been held with the IOC and the date postponed Tokyo 2020 2011, with the Olympics seen by some as a golden finalised. Olympics will open on opportunity to rebuild. “We agreed that the timing of the July 23, 2021, organisers event will be in summer as originally said yesterday. 2015: STADIUM SCRAPPED planned, considering the corona- Embarrassment for Abe as he is forced to tear virus... and a certain amount of time up blueprints for the proposed national stadium needed for preparations, selection when costs balloon out of control. and qualification of athletes,” he “I have decided we must go back to the drawing added. Athletics Worlds shifting to 2022 board,” a red-faced Abe says in July 2015 after public In a statement, the IOC said the anger over the $2bn price tag which would have PARIS new dates would give health author- AFP – “Everyone needs to be flexible and compromise made it the world’s most expensive stadium. ities and organisers “the maximum and to that end we are now working with the organ- time to deal with the constantly The 2021 world athletics championships in Eugene, isers of the World Athletics Championships in Oregon 2015: LOGO DROPPED changing landscape and the dis- Oregon will be shifted to 2022 to accommodate the on new dates in 2022 for our World Athletics Scandal follows in September 2015 as the logo ruption caused by the COVID-19 re-arranged Tokyo Olympics, World Athletics said Championships.” for the Games is ditched after accusations of pandemic.” yesterday. World Athletics said they were also “in discussions” plagiarism. The decision would also cause The announcement came immediately after with the Commonwealth Games Federation, the organ- Designer Olivier Debie says the design is stolen “minimum” disruption to the inter- Olympics organisers said the 2020 Tokyo Games -- isers of the Commonwealth Games that are currently from his logo for a Belgian theatre and threatens national sports calendar, the body postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic -- scheduled to be held In the English city of Birmingham court action before officials withdraw the emblem, said. will now take place on July 23-August 8, 2021. on July 27-August 7, 2022. saying it “no longer has public support”. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics were That means the world athletics championships that The athletics federation said it was also talking to due to open on July 24 this year and were scheduled to take place in Eugene on August 6-15, the organisers of the 2022 European Athletics Cham- 2018: CUTE MASCOTS run for 16 days, but the coronavirus 2021, can no longer be held on those dates. pionships, which are due to take place in Munich on After the logo disaster, there is relief at the pandemic forced the first peacetime “We support the new 2021 dates for the Tokyo 2020 August 11-21. smooth rollout of futuristic mascots for the Olympics postponement of the Games. Olympic Games announced today by the Japanese There has been no decision yet whether to postpone and Paralympics, chosen by schoolchildren. The IOC and Japan had for weeks organisers and the IOC,” World Athletics said in a this year’s European championships, slated for Paris Olympic mascot “Miraitowa” -- combining the insisted the show could go on but statement. between August 26-30. Japanese words for future and eternity -- is a blue- the rapid spread of COVID-19 “This gives our athletes the time they need to get Track and field is the traditional centrepiece of the checked, doe-eyed character with pointy ears, while prompted growing disquiet among back into training and competition. Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. Paralympic counterpart “Someity” sports pink athletes and sporting federations. checks derived from Japan’s famous cherry The Olympics was the highest- blossoms. profile sporting casualty of the coro- the heat of the Tokyo summer that According to the latest budget, the country had bounced back from navirus that has wiped out fixtures had been their main concern before the Games were due to cost $12.6 the 2011 triple disaster of the earth- 2018: BOXING BLUES worldwide and all but halted pro- coronavirus struck. billion, shared between the organ- quake, tsunami and nuclear In an precedented move, the International fessional sport. Due to the heat, the marathon ising committee, the government of meltdown in the northeastern Fuku- Olympic Committee strips troubled governing body In a near-simultaneous has been moved to Sapporo, a city Japan and Tokyo city. shima region. AIBA of the right to run the boxing competition at announcement on Monday, World some 800 kilometres (500 miles) to However, that number is hotly The Games are now being billed the Games over various allegations. Athletics said it would now move its the north of Tokyo where the contested with a much-publicised as the expression of humanity’s There are fears the sport will not feature in the world championships, which had weather is cooler even in government audit suggesting the triumph over the coronavirus. Games, but the IOC opts to organise the boxing tour- been due to take place in Eugene, mid-summer. central government was spending “Humankind currently finds nament itself. Oregon on August 6-15 next year, to The postponement has handed several times that amount -- on itself in a dark tunnel,” IOC chief 2022. organisers the “unprecedented” task items organisers claim are only tan- Thomas Bach said in yesterday’s 2019: MARATHON MOVE There was some speculation that of rearranging an event seven years gentially related to the Olympics. statement announcing the new date. After warnings against holding the marathon Japanese organisers could take in the making, and Tokyo 2020 CEO The Japanese government had “These Olympic Games Tokyo in the middle of Tokyo’s sweltering summer, the advantage of the blank canvas to Toshiro Muto has admitted the addi- touted the Games as the “Recovery 2020 can be a light at the end of this IOC springs a surprise in October 2019 by shifting shift the Games to spring, avoiding tional costs will be “massive”. Olympics”, designed to show how tunnel.” the flagship race to Sapporo, 800 kilometres to the north -- and usually cooler in August. 2019: BUDGET BLOWOUT Organisers unveil the final version of their Wimbledon will be cancelled: Official budget in December, with the Games expected to cost $12.6bn, although Tokyo 2020 and the IOC are REUTERS – LONDON still wrangling over the cost of moving the marathon. Wimbledon organisers will An audit suggests the national government’s announce the cancellation of the part of the overall bill, which is supposed to be 150 grasscourt Grand Slam this week billion yen, is actually nearly 10 times that. Organ- due to the coronavirus pandemic, isers say auditors are counting expenses only tan- German Tennis Federation (DTB) gentially related to the running of the Games. vice-president Dirk Hordorff has told Sky Sports. 2019: RUSSIAN BAN All England Lawn Tennis Club Russia’s participation in the Games is thrown (AELTC) officials earlier said the into question in December, when anti-doping June 29-July 12 event would not be agency WADA bans the country’s athletes for four played behind closed doors and years from global events including the Olympics postponement was not without sig- over manipulated doping data. Russia vows to nificant risk and difficulty. appeal, but a hearing in March 2020 is postponed “Wimbledon has stated that as the new coronavirus spreads globally. they will have a board meeting next Wednesday and will make the final 2020: CANCELLATION ‘UNTHINKABLE’ decision there,” Hordorff told Sky By late March, the coronavirus outbreak has Sports Germany. An aerial view of the Wimbledon complex. been declared a pandemic causing more than “I am also involved in the bodies 325,000 infections and over 14,400 deaths. of the ATP and WTA. The necessary would travel. That is unthinkable.” postponing the claycourt Grand Slam WTA, which runs women’s tourna- With pressure growing for organisers to decisions have already been made The AELTC did not respond to a at Roland Garros from May until late ments, require their players to par- acknowledge the Games may be hit, Tokyo gov- there and Wimbledon will decide request for comment.