Several sporting events have been postponed or canceled because of the novel Coronavirus, or COVID-19. Likely, the biggest lingering sports-related question continues to be the outcome of the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Tokyo, Japan is set to be the host city. It has been since 2013. Japan is, of course, not far from China, where the novel coronavirus first became widespread. Before it became clear how widespread COVID-19 had become worldwide, some people suggested changing host cities. But now it seems, boom or bust, a change to another country is out of the question.
Calls for a postponement, however, have been strongly increasing.
Canadian and Australian committees might not send athletes
Canada and Australia's Olympic committees have come out strongly against keeping the 2020 Olympic start date as July 24. So much so, that they won't send their athletes if the date is not pushed back.
According to MSN, the Canadian Olympic Committee was the first to threaten to pull its athletes. Shortly after, the Australian Olympic Committee followed suit. The latter has reportedly already begun planning for the Olympics to be held in 2021.
Canada has hosted the Summer Olympics one time - in Montreal, Quebec in 1976. The country has also held two Winter Olympics. First in Calgary, Alberta in 1988 and second in Vancouver, British Columbia in 2010.
Australia has played host to the Summer Olympics twice. The first instance was in Melbourne, Victoria in 1956. And the second was in Sydney, New South Wales in 2000.
Officials from a number of other countries have stated their desire for the 2020 Olympics to be delayed. They include ones from Brazil and Norway. But they had not gone as far as Canada and Australia have.
As TIME notes, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has not taken a public stance on postponing the games. Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland says her role isn't making demands of decision-makers. Rather, it's to bring forward solutions.
Other American entities, however, have taken an open stance in support of a delay. Including USA Track and Field and USA Swimming.
Even U.S. President Donald Trump said he'd prefer for the games to be held off until 2021.
The IOC said it will be decided within four weeks
The International Olympic Committee set a deadline to make the final decision about the start date on Sunday. Four weeks. Reports indicate the committee would most likely opt to push back the date.
Japanese officials were previously adamant that the 2020 Olympics would go forward as planned. But more recently, there's been a decidedly more conciliatory tone. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe acknowledged postponing the event could be unavoidable.
