Summer 2021 is already looking so much brighter. For starters, the Tokyo Summer Olympics officially have new dates after being postponed by the International Olympic Committee and Japan last week due to the spread of coronavirus. The Olympic Games were originally scheduled to begin on July 24, 2020, but they have now been moved all the way to July 23, 2021. “With this announcement, I am confident that, working together with the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Japanese Government and all our stakeholders, we can master this unprecedented challenge,” said IOC president Thomas Bach in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. The postponement came shortly after Canada made an announcement on March 22 saying they would not be sending any athletes to the Olympics unless the Games were rescheduled.
“Humankind currently finds itself in a dark tunnel,” Bach continued. “These Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 can be a light at the end of this tunnel.” Aw, that’s nice … wait, what? “These Olympic Games Tokyo 2020?” Despite the fact that the Olympics will not be taking place in 2020 and will be taking place in 2021, organizers added that the Games will still be called the 2020 Olympics in a symbolic gesture that allows the sporting event to “stand as a beacon of hope.” Sure, okay. But just to be clear: The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will now take place from July 23–August 8, 2021. Not 2020.