- 28.11.2024, Thursday
- 00:42
A junior highschool student lights the Olympic flame at an Olympic cauldron during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Flame of Recovery tour in Fukushima, Japan March 24, 2020, in this photo taken by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. JAPAN OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN JAPAN.
JUMPER WITH NO SANDPIT
In a crowded sporting calendar, which will be making up for this year's cancellations, World Athletics said it would be willing to move the 2021 world championships, scheduled for Aug. 6-15 in Oregon to clear a path for the Olympics.
The Athletics Association said a survey of more than 4,000 track and field competitors showed 78% wanted the Games delayed.
The association's American founder, twice Olympic triple jump champion Christian Taylor, is among athletes unable to train due to social distancing and closure of facilities.
"There is no sandpit for me, I have not put on jump spikes for two weeks," he told Britain's Times newspaper.
Tuesday's decision came 122 days before the planned opening ceremony at Japan's newly built National Stadium, which was to usher in the 16-day carnival of sport featuring 11,000 athletes from 206 nations and territories.
It was not the first time a Japanese Olympics has run into problems. Both the 1940 Summer and Winter Olympic Games were due to be held in Japan but were cancelled due to World War Two.
It was not yet clear whether the 57 percent of athletes who had already secured spots in Tokyo would need to qualify again for the re-arranged Olympics.
The torch relay was being cancelled.
#Tokyo Olympics
