IOC Sets New Dates for 2020 Olympics, Paralympics

The International Olympic Committee and Summer Games organizing committee has confirmed the new dates for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games rescheduled to take place in 2021 in Japan, Tokyo.

Last week, IOC and Japan decided to postpone the games due to the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Olympic Games which were previously slated for 24th July to 9th August this year will now kick off on July 23rd and run until 8th August 2021.

Also, the Paralympic Games which were originally slated to start on the 25th August, 2020 have now been pushed to next year beginning from 24th August to 5th September.

The agreement was reached on Monday during the Executive board meeting after consultation from the different parties involved.

Uganda is among the many countries that had booked participation in different sports disciplines like Boxing, Athletics, Badminton, Paralympics among others.

Important to note, the Olympics have never before been delayed, though they were canceled in 1916, 1940 and 1944 during the two world wars. Major Cold War boycotts also disrupted the Moscow and Los Angeles Games in 1980 and 1984.