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Coronavirus Forces Delay of 2020 Olympics

VOA News

   The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo will be postponed until next year
   because of the coronavirus pandemic, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
   announced Tuesday.

   Although the International Olympic Committee had said it would spend up
   to a month debating the matter, the decision to postpone became
   inevitable after several countries said they would not send athletes if
   the Games were held this summer.

   "The IOC president and the prime minister of Japan have concluded that
   the Games must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020, but not later that
   summer 2021 to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved
   in the Olympic Games, and the international community," the IOC and the
   Japanese organizing committee said in a joint statement Tuesday.

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