TOKYO: The Tokyo Olympics, originally slated for this summer, is now set to be postponed until next year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the International Olympic Committee said Tuesday.

The Tokyo Games were previously scheduled to start in July. In line with the Olympics postponement, the Tokyo Paralympics, initially set to begin on Aug. 25, will also be put off.

During their telephone talks on Tuesday, Abe and IOC President Thomas Bach agreed to postpone the Tokyo Games for around one year and hold the event by summer 2021.

They concluded that the Tokyo 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," the IOC and the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee said in a joint statement.

Following the talks, Abe told reporters that he proposed to Bach to consider a postponement of about one year to help athletes perform in their best conditions and ensure the safety of spectators. The IOC chief "agreed 100 pct" to his proposal, Abe said.

"In the face of the ongoing spread of the infectious disease, it's difficult (to hold the Tokyo Games) within this year," the Japanese leader said.

"We agreed with President Bach to closely cooperate to hold the Tokyo Olympics in a complete form and as a testament to humanity's victory over the novel coronavirus," Abe said.

The talks were also attended by Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo organizing committee, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, Seiko Hashimoto, minister for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.

At a press conference, Mori said that a rescheduled Tokyo Games ‘will take place around summer next year, or may be earlier’. He said, "I would be happier if the games avoid being held in mid-summer."

Speaking to reporters, Koike said the two sides agreed that despite the postponement, the games will keep the name Tokyo 2020.

Since the start of modern Olympic history with the 1896 Athens Games, there has been no Summer or Winter Olympics postponement until now, although there have been cancelations due to world wars.

Talks on postponing the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics appeared to be accelerating after the World Health Organization declared earlier this month that the global spread of the coronavirus disease can be called a pandemic.

Amid the threat of the virus, a spate of national Olympic committees and sporting bodies have called for delaying the Tokyo Games.

On Sunday, the IOC said it will discuss postponing the Tokyo Games and reach a conclusion within four weeks.

In 2013, Tokyo was selected to host the 2020 Olympics. The Japanese capital hosted the quadrennial sports event in 1964.

Mori said the Olympic torch relay, scheduled to start in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Thursday, will be rescheduled.

"A new schedule will be set in line with the Olympics postponement and we'll prepare for a grand start," Mori said.

The Olympic flame, which arrived in Japan on Friday, will stay in Fukushima for the time being as proposed by Abe.

Abe and Bach agreed 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 IOC and organizing committee said.

JIJI Press