CONFIRMED: New summer 2021 dates set for postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics

New summer 2021 dates have been confirmed for the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The opening ceremony will take place on July 23 and the closing ceremony on August 8 next year.

The dates were settled upon when Tokyo 2020 and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) reached an agreement on Monday. 

The original dates were July 24 and run to August 9, but the new calendar was confirmed by Tokyo 2020 president Yoshirō Mori and chief executive Toshiro Muto in the Japanese capital.

"I proposed that the Games should be hosted between July and August 2021, and I really appreciate that [IOC] President [Thomas] Bach, having discussed this proposal with the various international sports federations and other related organizations, kindly accepted my proposal,"said Mori of the rescheduling.

"A certain amount of time is required for the selection and qualification of athletes and for their training and preparation, and the consensus was that staging the rescheduled Games during the summer vacation in Japan would be preferable."

Dates for the games in summer had already been mooted after it was declared last week by organizers that the Games would take place 'no later than summer 2021' due to the covid-19 pandemic. 

Chief executive officer of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Toshiro Muto (L), and Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori (R); Behrouz MEHRI / AFP

Following the decision, IOC president Bach hailed the Games a "light at the end of the tunnel" for humankind in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.

"With this announcement, I am confident that, working together with the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Japanese Government and all our stakeholders, we can master this unprecedented challenge," he said.

"Humankind currently finds itself in a dark tunnel. These Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 can be a light at the end of this tunnel.”