The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games have been postponed until next year because of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.
“Postponing the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games as a result of the global COVID-19 outbreak is absolutely the right thing to do. The health and well-being of human life must always be our number one priority and staging a sport event of any kind during this pandemic is simply not possible” said International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Andrew Parsons
“Sport is not the most important thing right now, preserving human life is. It is essential therefore that all steps are taken to try and limit the spread of this disease.
“When the Paralympic Games do happen in Tokyo next year, they will be a spectacular global celebration of humanity coming together again as one. The Paralympic Movement is based on people overcoming adversity, and this is what we will do next year.”
“From an athlete viewpoint this is the right decision for the athletes, the Games and the wider Paralympic Movement. We all now have greater clarity about when the Games will take place, and this is very welcome news for the global Para athlete community.” said Chelsey Gotell, Chairperson of the IPC Athletes’ Council.
“We are happy that the IOC and the Japan’s Prime Minister Abe took this decision so quickly. It enables athletes to take a step back and focus on the current situation at hand”.
