Just as all of our daily lives have changed in some way due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the sports world has been brought to a screeching halt. That trend continued today as the 2020 Olympics, the biggest sports event of the year, have been officially postponed.
Veteran International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound made the announcement today.
“On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided. The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know. It will come in stages. We will postpone this and begin to deal with all the ramifications of moving this, which are immense,” said Pound in a phone interview.
With all sports being affected in some way either by cancelling altogether or at least postponing play, the Olympics were next on the chopping block. Although the events weren't starting until July 24th, everything that needed to take place to prepare for the event both in Tokyo and by the participating countries would just be too immense of a challenge at this point. With multiple committees beginning to push for a postponement, it was only a matter of time with how things have continued to progress due to the pandemic.
IOC President Thomas Bach said on Sunday that he was going to take the next four weeks to decide the fate of the Tokyo Olympics, but also that he had ruled out canceling the Games completely. This will mark the first time the Olympics have ever been suspended.
Several former and current Wildcats were planning to participate at the Olympics this year. Mary Tucker and Will Shaner were set to compete for rifle, Sydney McLaughlin was expected to compete in track and field and Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo and Devin Booker were named as Team USA Basketball finalists.
It’s likely that the Olympics have joined the long list of sports events that we will now have to wait until 2021 for. We’d all hope that the Olympics will be the last sporting event or season to be either cancelled or postponed due to the coronavirus, but everything is still up in the air as we continue to move forward in this very strange time.