The International Olympic Committee has postponed the Youth Olympics to 2026 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
IOC President Thomas Bach announced the postponement after an online executive board meeting on Wednesday 15 July.
The Event Programme Principles for the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games were approved.
Bach also said the IOC remained fully committed to holding a ‘frugal’ Tokyo Games in 2021, and that the IOC did not want to hold events without spectators and was working on a solution.
A final decision on whether to hold the Games may not be made until sometime between March and June 2021.
Bach has previously acknowledged that Tokyo 2020 would be cancelled if they could not be held in 2021, and the IOC’s Richard Pound has suggested that if Tokyo 2020 did not take place, then the 2022 Beijing Winter Games date would also likely be effected.
Japan has had a very low death rate for Covid-19 – less than 1000 deaths – to date, but Tokyo recorded 286 cases of coronavirus on Thursday.
The country also continues to suffer exceptionally heavy rainfall. Downpours in early July were the heaviest in 20 years.
Related Post: