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Organizers said on Monday that the Tokyo Olympics will open next year in the same time slot scheduled for this year’s games. The opening ceremony will take place on July 23, 2021 — almost exactly one year after the games were due to start. Last week, the IOC and Japanese organizers postponed the Olympics until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
This year’s games were scheduled to open on July 24 and close on Aug. 9. But the near exact one-year delay will see the rescheduled closing ceremony on Aug. 8. “The schedule for the games is key to preparing for the games,” Tokyo organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori said. “This will only accelerate our progress.”
Mori said a spring Olympics was considered but holding the games later gives more space to complete the many qualifying events that have been postponed by the virus outbreak. “We wanted to have more room for the athletes to qualify,” Mori said.
The Paralympics were rescheduled to Aug. 24-Sept. 5.
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