The 2020 Summer Olympics have officially been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Tokyo Games, which were supposed to be held from July 24 to Aug. 9, could be delayed for up to a year.

When are the next Olympics? International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and Prime Minister of Japan Abe Shinzo have decided that the Games will be held after 2020 but no later than summer 2021.

“President Bach and Prime Minister Abe expressed their shared concern about the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, and what it is doing to people’s lives and the significant impact it is having on global athletes’ preparations for the Games,” read a joint statement from the IOC and Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee.

“In a very friendly and constructive meeting, the two leaders praised the work of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and noted the great progress being made in Japan to fight against COVID-19.

“The unprecedented and unpredictable spread of the outbreak has seen the situation in the rest of the world deteriorating. Yesterday, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the COVID-19 pandemic is ‘accelerating.’ There are more than 375,000 cases now recorded worldwide and in nearly every country, and their number is growing by the hour.”

IOC member Dick Pound told USA Today Monday that the 2020 Games would be postponed. On Sunday, the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Committees announced that they wouldn’t send athletes to Tokyo unless the Games were held at a later date.

This is the first time in history that the Summer Olympics have been postponed. The Games were canceled in 1916 because of World War I. World War II caused the cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 Olympics.

The 1940 Olympics were supposed to be held in Tokyo.

Olympic Rings - Tokyo Olympics 2020
The Olympic Rings are pictured at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters in Lausanne on March 3, 2020. FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images
Coronavirus