New Tokyo 2020 Olympic dates to be decided this week

Decision is set to be reached between the IOC and Tokyo 2020 organising committee to host the Games next summer

The dates for the rescheduled Olympic Games will be set this week in a call between International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach and Tokyo 2020 boss Yoshiro Mori.

This summer’s Games were postponed last Tuesday due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the IOC finally bowing to pressure from athletes, sporting federations, government officials and critics to call off the Tokyo Olympics in the wake of Covid-19’s global outbreak.

Upon postponement what would be the second Summer Olympics to be held in Japan, Tokyo 2020 organising committee president Mori suggested that new dates would be put in place within three weeks’ time, but the former Japanese prime minister has also stressed the need to decide on when the Games will take place “as soon as possible”, meaning a decision is set to be pushed through sooner rather than later.

The IOC confirmed that the Olympics will take place between the start of 2021 and the end of the summer, giving those involved in restructuring the event around eight months to fit in the three-week event plus the ensuing Paralympics.

With the organising committee meeting in Japan on Monday, Mori confirmed that he expects to finalise dates with Bach this week in order to give everyone clarity on when the 36th Olympic Games will take place.

“We need to swiftly decide on the new date,” Mori said at the start of the meeting.

“I would imagine Bach is going to call me this week on this. I think the members also have their opinion. We’ve got plenty of time to exchange opinions and after that I’d expect everyone to unite and move ahead for the success of the Games in one voice.”

The admission comes after Mori looked to ease fears among athletes that a spring Olympics was on the cards, which would cause major issues with the respective calendars of each individual sport given that major tournaments scheduled for the summer have already begun looking at rescheduling in the knowledge that the Olympics will take place next year.

This year’s event was due to begin on 24 July and run until 9 August before the Paralympic Games gets underway, and Mori suggested that the model that the Tokyo 2020 organising committee are looking at resembles this.

“I want to offer some conclusions by the end of next week after we’ve mulled it over,” Mori said at the weekend.

“The Games are meant to be in summer, so we should be thinking of a time between June and September.”