BikeRaceInfo: Current and historical race results, plus interviews, bikes, travel, and cycling history

find us on Facebook Find us on Twitter See our youtube channel Melanoma: It started with a freckle Schwab Cycles South Salem Cycleworks frames Neugent Cycling Wheels Peaks Coaching: work with a coach! Shade Vise sunglass holder Advertise with us!

Search our site:
Email Newsletter icon, E-mail Newsletter icon, Email List icon, E-mail List icon Sign up for our Email Newsletter

Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
2019 Tour de France | 2019 Giro d'Italia

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. - Confucius

Upcoming racing:

Latest completed racing:


Tokyo Olympics officially postponed until 2021

Sanity has prevailed. Here's the story from CNN:

The IOC has been facing mounting pressure to delay the Games, which were originally scheduled to take place from July 24 to August 9, amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

It was also announced that the event will still be dubbed Tokyo 2020 despite the postponement.

"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 than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community," said a statement from the IOC and Tokyo 2020 organizing committee.

"The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present.

"Therefore, it was agreed that the Olympic flame will stay in Japan."

The Olympics have never been rescheduled in peacetime. In 1916, 1940 and 1944, the Games were canceled because of world wars.

On March 17, Japan's Olympic minister Seiko Hashimoto said the country was planning for a "complete" hosting of the Games, which she went on to explain meant an Olympics which "started on time and with spectators in attendance."
Then late last week, the IOC said that it was considering a number of different options including a postponement or modifying the Games so they could still take place as scheduled in July.

There has been growing opposition to hosting the Games as planned as countries attempt to spread the limit of the coronavirus, which has infected more than 381,000 people globally.

Australia and Canada both announced they would not be sending athletes to Tokyo this year, and -- along with the likes of USA, Germany and Poland -- called for the Games to be postponed until 2021.

Sporting bodies, including USA Track and Field and USA Swimming, also called for a postponement.

Meanwhile, athletes who have been unable to train due to closed facilities and restricted access to coaches and training partners have also voiced opposition to the Games proceeding as planned.

Sporting events across the globe have been suspended amid the virus, with Euro 2020 being moved to next year.

The financial implications of postponing the Olympics could be huge. The cost of hosting, organizers said in December, was some 1.35 trillion yen ($12.35 billion) but, according to Reuters, that figure did not include the cost of moving the marathon and walking events from Tokyo to Sapporo to avoid the summer heat.
Sponsors, insurers and broadcasters have also committed billions to the Games.
Some experts believe the truer sum is likely to be $25 billion, a vast majority of which has already been spent on large-scale infrastructure projects such as transportation networks, hotels and new venues.

You can read the entire story here.

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary