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2020 Olympics to be postponed, likely to 2021

A veteran IOC member told USA Today that the Tokyo Olympics will be delayed.

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The cauldron is seen on the stage in front of the aircraft transporting the Olympic flame parked at the Japan Air Self-Defense Force Matsushima Air Base ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Flame Arrival Ceremony on March 20, 2020 in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi, Japan. Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images

The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo are going to be postponed, potentially into 2021. International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound told USA Today on Monday that the Games will be postponed, and the IOC is working on the details.

“On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided,” Pound said in a phone interview. “The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know.”

The IOC had previously said it would take the next month to figure out next steps, without committing to a postponement. Pound has the gravitas to make these comments and it count as an unofficially official announcement.

This comes after the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Committees announced they would not send athletes to Tokyo if the Games started in July. Additionally, the USA Track & Field and USA Swimming organizing bodies wrote a letter to the US Olympic Committee pushing for some kind of postponement.