Olympics Halted By Player Power

Tokyo chiefs finally postponed the Games after bowing to pressure when athletes rose up in anger over the dithering and delaying tactics

- Alex Spink

Player Power was the clear winner as Tokyo chiefs bowed to pressure from athletes and finally postponed both the Olympics and Paralympics.

Forty-eight hours after giving themselves another month to decide the fate of this summer’s Games in the face of a coronavirus pandemic, organisers pulled the plug.

The moment officially arrived when Shinzo Abe, Japan’s Prime Minister, proposed the postponement to Thomas Bach and the president of the International Olympic Committee agreed.

That is understood to have triggered a clause in the agreement to stage the Games which frees both parties from liability for failing to fulfil their obligations under the contract. But it was sportsmen and women the world over rising up to deliver a damning chorus of disapproval over the lingering possibility of the Games going ahead that forced the speedy resolution.

Katarina Johnson Thompson, as befits her world champion status, led the way a week ago when calling out conflicting advice given by the IOC and governments.