Summer Olympics Postponed

After working to hold the Summer Olympics this July in spite of the coronavirus threat, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach have decided to postpone the event until 2021.

Resistance to this decision came from two ideologies: uphold the event so that the world can feel some normalcy during this difficult time and uphold the event because Japan has invested over $10 billion into hosting it. 

Multiple countries had already been outspoken in their desire to not participate in the event. Most cannot train under the restrictions brought in by COVID-19.

Canada formally withdrew from the games this past Sunday, and both the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committees voiced to the International Olympic Committee on Monday that they wished to postpone the event.

This decision does not come as a surprise, as life as we know it is changing in dramatic ways on a daily basis. Sports have been a lens for us all to see the effects of this virus on a more simple scale.

The Olympics have now been canceled four times, three of which were called off due to world wars. 

The University of Central Oklahoma will nonetheless be affected by this decision. In 2005 the university became an official U.S. Paralympic Training Site and is still used regularly by teams to train for events like the Summer Olympics.