Tokyo/Lausanne — Officials in charge of staging Tokyo’s Olympic Games crowded around a low table inside Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s residence late Tuesday, wincing as they spoke by phone with the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Minutes later, Abe emerged to inform a gaggle of reporters that he had just spoken with Thomas Bach, the IOC’s president, and that they had agreed to officially delay the Tokyo Olympics.
In the days leading up to the decision, organizers of the Games were under pressure from major players in global sports: sponsors wanting updates on event plans, powerful sports federations worried about athlete safety, and Japanese officials seeking to maintain a united front to support the 2020 Games.
Japanese corporate sponsors who had spent a record $3 billion to participate in the Olympics were also growing increasingly anxious as the number of virus cases ticked upward, according to multiple sources at various companies. A representative at another Japanese sponsor said they still had not heard specifics about the delayed Games.
On March 16, Abe held a video conference with leaders from the Group of Seven nations and used it to lay the groundwork for a postponement of the Olympics, a government source close to Abe said. Kozo Tashima, who also heads the country’s football association, attended a meeting with Mori and other influential leaders of Tokyo 2020 a week prior.
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