The Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has announced the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics, which was originally set to take place this year on July 24th. The games have now been scheduled to commence sometime in 2021.
As the number of COVID-19 cases increased in the past weeks, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) has ultimately given into foreign pressure to push back the games to the following year. This is the first time since the World Wars that the Olympics have been cancelled or rescheduled. However, the public as well as foreign countries — such as USA Track and Field and USA Swimming — that were initially meant to take part in the games have expressed their disapproval of the continuation, prompting the IOC to make their decision.
On top of the summer Olympics, other major sporting events across the globe have been cancelled due to coronavirus concerns, such as March Madness in the U.S., the Hong Kong Marathon, and Italy’s Serie A. Jerry Colengelo of USA Basketball expressed his approval of the decision as he states, “Candidly, the fact that the games have been postponed, I’m pleased about that for many, many reasons . . . Also, the availability of people will be much stronger if we have this period of time here to prepare.”
However, the postponement did not just affect the sporting community; it also affected the economies of different countries. NBC Universal, one of the biggest media companies in the United States, has paid over $4 billion for media rights to the Olympics for about 6 years now.
Other countries have called out the IOC for their irresponsibility in delaying a response until now. The COVID-19 pandemic has proven itself to be quite a threat to the world, prompting multiple regions to be on lockdown or have their people stay at home unless absolutely necessary. Currently, there are over 471,000 cases of coronavirus worldwide.
Julie Kim
Asia Journal
(Los Angeles Times Advertising Supplement)
