Tuesday morning, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee announced the 2020 summer Olympic games in Tokyo will be postponed in response to COVID-19 concerns.
The decision comes as a result of a conference call hosted by President of the IOC, Thomas Bach, and Prime Minister of Japan, Abe Shinzo.
"In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021," a joint statement reads. "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 2020 Games were originally scheduled to run from from July 24 to Aug. 9, and the Paralympics from Aug. 25 to Sept. 6. The statement went on to say that the Games will keep the name "Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020" moving forward.
These were also set to be the first Games with baseball since 2008.