The World Athletics has supported the new dates of the Tokyo Olympic Games and has also promised to postpone the 2021 World Athletics Championships to 2022.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Tokyo 2020 organising committee, Tokyo metropolitan government and the government of Japan announced on Monday that the Tokyo Olympic Games will be staged from July 23 to August 8, 2021, and the Tokyo Paralympic Games will run from August 24 to September 5, 2021.
“We support the new 2021 dates for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games announced today by the Japanese organizers and the IOC (International Olympic Committee). This gives our athletes the time they need to get back into training and competition,” the World Athletics said in the statement.
“Everyone needs to be flexible and compromise and to that end we are now working with the organizers of the World Athletics Championships in Oregon on new dates in 2022 for our World Athletics Championships.”
The new dates for the Tokyo Olympic Games will not allow the 2021 World Championships — scheduled to be held from August 6 to 15 — to take place as planned.
“We would like to thank our Oregon 2021 Organizing Committee, their stakeholders and our partners for their collaboration and willingness to explore all options,” the World Athletics said.
The World Athletics also said that they are also in discussions with the Commonwealth Games Federation and the European Championships, as both of the events are due to be held in 2022.