Delay offers hope

Olympics in 2021 could be world’s victory lap

Without a doubt, 2020 is destined to be remembered as a monumental year. It will not, however, be an Olympic year.

After several weeks of speculation, the International Olympic Committee announced it was postponing the 2020 summer games until July 23 to Aug. 8, 2021. The global novel coronavirus pandemic made it impossible to pull off the games in Tokyo in July as scheduled.

The Olympics were canceled in 1916, 1940 and 1944, in each case because of world war.

This time, Olympic organizers were forced to recognize the public health threat posed by planning to gather thousands and thousands of athletes and fans from around the world at the games.

Athletes, their sponsors, the governing bodies for various Olympic sports and several governments had called on the IOC to push back the summer games.

It surely was a painful — and costly — decision. But the IOC really had no choice.

Even beyond the threat of the Tokyo games themselves, athletes are right now struggling to continue their training. Many are isolated at home without access to the facilities, equipment, coaches and teammates they need to continue world-class training routines.

It is neither safe nor reasonably possible in many cases for the world’s Olympians to get ready for the Tokyo Olympics.

Postponing the games gives these athletes a chance to reboot their training plans.

Announcing the new dates for the games in 2021 helps more than just the athletes hoping to compete there. It helps the rest of us — now deep in the terrifying COVID-19 crisis — look forward to a positive event in the future beyond these uncertain days.

“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,” the IOC and Japanese officials said in a joint announcement.

When the globe emerges from the coronavirus pandemic, the world will need an event of Olympic magnitude to celebrate. The Tokyo games can be that event.