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Olympic organisers aiming for July and August Tokyo 2021 dates

The International Olympic Committee are believed to be working towards a July and August staging ...



Olympic organisers aiming for...
Other Sports

Olympic organisers aiming for July and August Tokyo 2021 dates

The International Olympic Committee are believed to be working towards a July and August staging of the Olympic Games next year in Tokyo.

The Games were postponed for the first time in their history earlier this week, having been due to get underway on July 24.

IOC Coordination Commission chair John Coates told Japanese paper Yomiuri that they want to ideally sandwich the games between next year's Wimbledon and the US Open tennis Grand Slams.

President of the IOC Thomas Bach said on Wednesday that the rescheduling of the games would not be restricted to the summer months. In fact, Bach suggested Tokyo 2021 could even be held in the spring.

But Coates' comments suggest they are looking to mirror the original dates for the XXXII Olympiad, "We want to more or less finalise the dates in four weeks’ time", he told the paper.

Such a window would fit with Bach's original comments at the weekend that it would be four-weeks before they could decide on postponing the games.

Athlete and national association brought that decision forward, but Bach says finding a new window for the Olympics is like solving a huge jigsaw puzzle.

The IOC's task force set about arranging the Games today.

Toshiro Muto is the chief executive of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee and says the costs involved in rescheduling the Olympic and Paralympic Games are likely to be "massive".

Muto also wants a swift resolution to a once in a lifetime problem, "What we have been working on for seven years came to a screeching halt just as it was about to start - and now we have to build it back again.

"We are going to have to cram into about six months what we achieved in seven years, so it will be difficult.

"To use rugby lingo, we now need to string phase after phase, after phase. It will not be a game of packs.

"Making decisions seamlessly will be crucial"

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IOC International Olympic Committee Japan John Coates Olympic Games Paralympic Games Thomas Bach Tokyo Tokyo 2020