2020 Tokyo Olympic Games postponed until 2021

After weeks of speculation, the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) executive board met on Monday to make the decision. This year’s Games will now be starting with the Opening Ceremony on 23 July 2021 – almost exactly one year after the games were supposed to start this year – and running to 8 August.

The Paralympic Games, originally due to start on 24 August 2020, will now take place between 24 August and 5 September, 2021. Despite taking place in 2021 both the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games will still be called Tokyo 2020.

It is the first time in the Olympic Games’ 124-year modern history that they have been delayed. They were cancelled altogether in 1916 because of World War One and again in 1940 and 1944 for World War Two.

Olympic organisers hope the delay will allow sufficient time to finish the qualification process which will follow the same mitigation measures planned for 2020. It had previously been confirmed that all athletes already qualified and quota places already assigned will remain unchanged.

Following this year’s postponement, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) confirmed it is in contact with the International Olympic Committee regarding the revision of the beach volleyball qualification system. Volleyball qualifying places have already been decided and so will not be impacted by the postponement.

The postponement of the Games comes after volleyball test event for this year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo had already been cancelled two weeks ago because of the coronavirus pandemic. It had been due to take place between 21 and 26 April but the Japan Volleyball Association had decided to cancel the Volleyball Ariake Arena Test Match – The Tokyo Challenge Cup, due to concerns over the COVID-19 outbreak.

The FIVB has also announced that the cancellation or postponement of a number of events across its three disciplines. The Beach Volleyball World Tour five-star event in Rome, scheduled for 9 to 14 June, has been cancelled, with all involved parties committing to hosting a successful event in 2021 instead.

A four-star event in Moscow from June 3 to 7 has also gone the same way, with three one-star contests in Brazil, Indonesia and Greece, due to take place from 11 to 14 June, all postponed.

The men and women’s Volleyball Challenger Cup 2020 events, due to be hosted in Gondomar in Portugal and Zadar in Croatia respectively on 24 to 28 June, have been called off until further notice.

The Beach Majors Company (BMC) has notified the FIVB of its decision to cancel two Beach Volleyball Major Series events in Vienna, Austria, and Hamburg, Germany, scheduled to take place on 12 to 16 August and 19 to 23 August respectively. The FIVB was also informed that the BMC will no longer be co-organising the 5-star event in Gstaad, Switzerland, which was scheduled to take place on 7-12 July.

In addition, a decision has been made to cancel the Snow Volleyball World Tour event in Bariloche that was scheduled from 20 to 23 August following a request from the Argentinian Volleyball Federation.