Olympics: Athletes qualified for Tokyo Games to keep places
IOC and Japanese organisers made decision to postpone Olympics and Paralympics until 2021 because of coronavirus this week
By Reuters
Last Updated: 27/03/20 12:37pm
All athletes who had qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will keep their spots for the Games next year following their postponement due to the coronavirus pandemic, says the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The IOC and Japanese organisers postponed the July 24-August 9 event until 2021 earlier this week but confirmed that those among the 11,000 athletes set to compete in Tokyo who had already earned their spot would keep it.
The IOC also said the amount of spots allocated for each sport at the Games would remain the same next year.
"The 57 per cent that are qualified do remain in place and the goal is to maintain the same athlete quotas across the different sports," an IOC official said.
The virus has wreaked havoc with sports schedules and forced the cancellation of Olympic qualifiers across many sports. Athletes have also been restricted in their training due to measures taken to stop the spread.
Though a huge blow to Japan, which has invested $12bn (£9.8bn) in the run-up to the Games, the decision to postpone was a relief to thousands of athletes fretting over training, with the world heading into lockdown to fight a disease that has killed thousands of people.
