2020 Olympics officially postponed

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The International Olympic Committee officially announced the 2020 Summer Olympics will be postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak in a statement issued Tuesday, March 24, 2020 — which will lead to a rippling effect of issues on the broadcast industry.

The announcement comes the day after a prominent IOC member said he expected the Tokyo games to be postponed.

No exact date has been determined, but the statement indicates nothing will happen in 2020.

“Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021,” reads the statement.

In the same announcement, the IOC said the Olympic flame will remain in Japan until the games are able to start.

It also has decided that, for continuity purposes, the games will still be referred to with the “2020” designator despite the fact they won’t take place in 2020.

The postponement also includes the 2020 Paralympic Games that were scheduled to follow.

This marks the first time in modern Olympic history that the games have been rescheduled.

The Olympics were canceled altogether in 1916, 1940 and 1944 due to wars.