Tokyo Olympics delayed by a year over coronavirus outbreak. Here’s a history of Games cancelled or postponed

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Japanese government have agreed to postpone the 2020 Summer Olympics due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. [caption id=“attachment_7967561” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The postponement of Tokyo Olympics 2020 is not the first instance of the Games being cancelled or rescheduled. AP Photo[/caption] According to a statement released by the International Olympic Committee, the president of the IOC, Thomas Bach, and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed their shared concern about the COVID-19 pandemic and “the significant impact it is having on global athletes’ preparations for the Games.” The statement said that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be “rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021.” And while it may break the hearts of thousands of athletes from around the world, this is definitely not the first time that the Olympics have been rescheduled. The Summer Olympics of 1916 got cancelled because of World War I. Scheduled to be held in Berlin, it never happened because of the commencement of World War I, which went on to 1918. Berlin finally hosted the Summer Olympics in 1936, before the start of World War II. A few years later, both the Summer and Winter Games of 1940 were called off due to World War II. The Summer Games were scheduled for Tokyo but got rescheduled to Finland capital Helsinki, after Japan returned their invitation to host the Games because of the impending war. The winter Olympics were set for Japan, but were moved because of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. While initially scheduled for Germany, the starting of the World War II meant that the games were cancelled in its entirety. Unfortunately, the duration of the World War II was so long that it led to the eventual cancellation of the 1944 Games as well. London was supposed to host the Summer Games, while Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy, was slated to host the Winter Games. However, none got to host the games that year.