It's official: for the first time since the Second World War, we will have to wait more than the usual four years to attend a summer Olympics. In fact, the years between Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021 will be five instead of four: now it's official, the IOC communicated it after reaching an agreement with the Japanese government. Hosting the Games this summer was not going to be safe, and postponing them to October would have clogged the sports calendar, admitted and not granted that October is already a reasonable deadline to start playing the most popular competitions again (such as the Olympics and European football championships, for example, also postponed to next year), with doors open to a potentially very large public.
In any case, the Games will be held within the summer (in theory this year they would have been held from 24 July to 9 August) and will in any case keep the name of Tokyo 2020, so as not to betray the slogan which in the meantime has also become a commercial brand . The decision was obviously made to safeguard the health of everyone, athletes and spectators, but also to ensure the smooth running of the tenders, giving all athletes - even those who don't have the means and possibilities to train from home - a certain point of reference on the start date. "The decision to postpone the Games is totally shared", specified the IOC in the press release which confirms what was in fact anticipated yesterday by the Japanese premier Abe.
What will change for fans? Certainly this is the Olympics would have been (or will be) the final point in the careers of many big names, who, having to postpone their participation for a further year, could see their plans upset. We are thinking above all of athletes who are particularly advanced in age, such as the tennis player Roger Federer that he had made a commitment to be there, but it's not certain that he will hold up for another 12 months of training and competitions. As for the Italian senators, the prominent name is certainly that of Federica Pellegrini, who would like to compete in her fifth and last Olympics: the Venetian swimmer has already anticipated that she will be able to wait another year without problems and therefore will be in the game.
Meanwhile, the world of football is also updating its calendar. After postponing the European Championships to June 2021, UEFA, as was obvious and logical, has officially moved, to a later date, the Champions League and Europa League finals, initially scheduled for May. It is evident that, even if the tournaments, as it seems, will be brought to a conclusion, it will be unthinkable to conclude them on schedule. We talk about it again in June or maybe in July.
