Report: 2020 Olympic Games to be CALLED OFF

The coronavirus pandemic has almost certainly caused the postponement of this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.

A report in the US has quoted a leading International Olympic Committee official in saying that the latest edition of the quadrennial sports showpiece will be put back by a year to 2021. 

It follows news that a number of countries were planning to shun the event as fears over the spread of COVID-19 continue to intensify.

Australia and Canada said over the weekend that they wouldn’t compete if the Games were to go ahead this year, with the chairman of the British Olympic Association adding that Team GB would likely sit it out, too.

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However, according to USA Today, such drastic measures won’t be necessary.

It has quoted IOC member Dick Pound as saying: “On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided.

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“The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on 24 July, that much I know.”

Golf is one of 33 sports on the menu for the Tokyo Games, following its successful return to the Olympic fold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. 

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Former world No.1 Justin Rose claimed gold ahead of Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar in the men’s event, whilst Inbee Park, Lydia Ko and Shanshan Feng claimed the women’s medals, as golf figured in the Games for the first time since 1904 in St Louis.

Yesterday, we reported that the official men’s and women’s world golf rankings have been frozen until such times as golf resumes, with the result that qualification for the Olympics has also been put on pause.