The 2020 Olympics have been postponed.
This decision comes on the heels of pressure from the Olympic committees of Canada, Australia, and the U.S. to cancel the event. This is the first time the Olympic Games have ever been postponed, although the international sporting event has been canceled on three occasions, all during times of war.
This is not the first major sporting event to be postponed or canceled due to the spread of the coronavirus—the NBA and Major League Soccer have suspended their seasons, and the French Open has been postponed until September 20—but the postponement of the Olympic Games, which have been consistently held in peacetime for more than a century, highlights the scale of this pandemic.
While this is undoubtedly painful news for the many Olympic athletes who have trained several years for the meet, some chose to respond to the news with optimism; Dutch track-and-field athlete Dafne Schippers, who won silver at the 2016 Summer Olympics, for the decision on Tuesday, writing, “Whatever it takes to beat the coronavirus. Let’s hope for the best, and let’s make sure we’ll celebrate even harder next year!”
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