Tokyo 2020 Games delay looms after U.S. joins calls for postponement

U.S. Olympic organizers joined calls for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, while the International Olympic Committee, according to member Dick Pound, has decided to delay the event, likely for a year.Major sporting nations Australia and Canada withdrew on Monday as organizers came under mounting pressure to postpone the event for the first time in its 124-year modern history.

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee said it had listened to feedback from athletes and was encouraged by a clearer path toward postponement.

“Our most important conclusion from this broad athlete response is that even if the current significant health concerns could be alleviated by late summer, the enormous disruptions to the training environment, doping controls and qualification process can’t be overcome in a satisfactory manner,” the USOPC said in a statement on Monday.