Tokyo 2020 Olympics officially postponed until 2021

Never before have the Olympic Games been rescheduled for something other than war, but the coronavirus has landed us in unprecedented times in every way. Today the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach agreed to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Olympics until next year.

In a joint statement by the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee and the IOC it was noted that the games would “be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community.”

There are still a lot of unanswered questions about what this means for all the skaters that had their sights — and hearts — set on the Olympics this summer.

In an Instagram post, Dutch Olympic hopeful Keet Oldenbeuving said, “Today came the news. Olympics are postponed to 2021. We all worked so hard to reach the goal, but now we have to work together to reach another goal. Staying safe and taking care of each other. Love you!”