March 30, 2020 - 18:12 AMT
Olympic Games set for July 23–August 8, 2021

The Tokyo Olympics will open in 2021 in the same time slot scheduled for the games in 2020.

Tokyo organizers say the opening ceremony will take place on July 23, 2021 — almost exactly one year after the games were due to start this year, The Associated Press reports.

The IOC and Japanese organizers last week postponed the Olympics until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 2020 games were scheduled to open on July 24 and close on August 9. But the near exact one-year delay will see the rescheduled closing ceremony on August 8.

There had been talk of switching the Olympics to spring, a move that would coincide with the blooming of Japan’s famous cherry blossoms. But it would also clash with European soccer and North American sports leagues.