MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Japan reorganizing the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as a testament to the defeat of the new virus in 2021

It is not clear exactly when the rescheduled Games will take place, with the International Olympic Committee saying the new date would be “beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021”

Japan on Wednesday started the unprecedented task of reorganizing the Tokyo Olympics after the historic decision to postpone the world's biggest sporting event due to the coronavirus pandemic that has locked down one-third of the planet.

The dramatic step to shift Tokyo 2020 to next year had never before been seen in peacetime and the postponement upends every aspect of the organization - including venues, security, ticketing and accommodation.

“It's like taking seven years to build the world's biggest jigsaw puzzle and, with just one piece to go, having to start again but now with less time to finish,” tweeted Craig Spence, spokesman for the International Paralympic Committee.

It is not even clear exactly when the rescheduled Games will take place, with the International Olympic Committee saying the new date would be “beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021”.

Japan had always framed Tokyo 2020 as the “Recovery Games” - a chance to show the world it had bounced back from the “triple disaster” in 2011 when a massive earthquake sparked a tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear meltdown.

The delayed event - still to be called Tokyo 2020 - will now be a “testament to mankind's defeat of the new virus”, said Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The Games could stand as a “beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times” and the Olympic flame “could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present”, Japan and the IOC said in their joint statement.

The Olympics, which has weathered boycotts, terrorist attacks and protests, is the highest-profile event affected by the virus that has killed thousands and postponed or cancelled sports competitions worldwide.

The IOC had come under fire for appearing out of touch by sticking to its schedule, but it eventually bowed to the inevitable, citing the need to protect the health of athletes.

Bach said the postponement was “about protecting human life”, with more than 11,000 athletes expected at the Games along with 90,000 volunteers, and hundreds of thousands of officials and spectators from all over the world.

US swimming star Ryan Lochte summed up the combination of disappointment and relief expressed by most athletes, after many had voiced anger at being asked to continue training during the pandemic.

“I was a little pissed off because I've been training my butt off and I've been feeling great,” the 12-time Olympic medallist told the Los Angeles Times.

“But this whole thing is way bigger than me,” Lochte added. “It's way bigger than the Olympians, it's affecting the entire world right now.”

The Japanese media were also broadly supportive, although the Tokyo Shimbun daily screamed “surprise and embarrassment”. “It is like all the efforts of the last seven years are back to square one,” the Nikkei business daily said.