2020 hold immense importance in the world of sports with the Olympics set to take place in Tokyo, Japan in July and August. However, the coronavirus outbreak has had consequences and repercussions across the globe.
India returned to the Olympic fold after the International Olympic Committee lifted the ban on the country's Olympic association (IOA) on Tuesday. Its athletes will now be able to march behind the Indian flag at the closing ceremony of the Sochi Winter Games. But India's return wasn't without its fair share of drama. Here is a summarised account of how the stage was set for India's Olympic comeback.
The new schedule means women's softball will kick off competition at 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) in Fukushima on July 21, two days before the Games officially open, with all events taking place a day earlier than the 2020 schedule.
Mayor Istvan Tarlos had suggested the city might quit the race after local opponents of the bid last week submitted a quarter of a million signatures.
Belgium and Australia are two world-class teams we saw in the final (in Tokyo). I think they are the benchmark and that's what we need to be aiming for, says India's chief coach Graham Reid.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had also wished the legend a speedy recovery.
The International Olympic Committee has hailed a United Nations resolution recognising the autonomy of sport as an important tool that will help foster political neutrality as well as lead to less boycotts and discrimination.
A pre-tournament medal contender, the 23-year-old Neeraj Chopra fuelled the country's expectations by topping the qualification round with a stunning first round throw of 86.59 metres.
Dozens of Japanese towns have abandoned plans to host Olympic athletes because of concern they will overburden stretched medical resources amid a fourth wave of coronavirus infections.
Shinzo Abe had been all but synonymous with Tokyo 2020, heavily involved in the winning bid in 2013 and dressing up as video game character Mario during the closing ceremony of the Rio Games three years later.
Thomas Bach has virtually complete control over the body and by far the biggest influence on whether the Games will go ahead or not. With the Games having only been cancelled in the past due to World Wars One and Two, Bach will undoubtedly do everything in his power to protect the IOC's prime product
Russian Olympic bobsledder Nadezhda Sergeeva has tested positive for a banned performance-enhancing drug, the Russian bobsleigh federation said in a statement on Friday.
Russia is ready to carry out an investigation into doping allegations against its athletes in concert with independent organisations, Interfax news agency quoted Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko as saying on Friday.
Organisers should be prepared to act swiftly to ban spectators or declare another state of emergency if needed, the experts said. If spectators are allowed, rules should be strict, such as limiting fans to local residents, the experts said.
'Athletes are a part of the world and they want to reflect the world they live in. For me, that is perfectly acceptable.'
Simone Biles's shot at a record five gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics suffered a blow on Sunday when the US gymnast failed to qualify for the final on the asymmetric bars.
Olympic chief Bach said on Saturday that he was sure clean Russian athletes would compete at the 2016 Games
Chaudhary did not get off to the best of starts and, with a score of 47.7, was placed eighth in the standings after the first five shots.
Speaking to ANI, a Board official said the comments are 'immature' and also pointed that the Indian government has already made its policy clear when it comes to handing visas to players for international sporting events.
Cypriot weightlifter Antonis Martasidis and an unnamed Greek competitor have tested positive for banned substances and have been expelled from the Rio Olympics, their teams said on Friday.
When the world's top athletes meet in Tokyo for the Olympics in July, they will be spending some of their downtime in a communal space built mostly out of reusable timber. Organisers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Wednesday unveiled the athletes village plaza, which was made from 40,000 pieces of timber donated by 63 Japanese municipal governments.
Austria's Olympic Committee received a letter threatening to kidnap two Austrian athletes at the Games that start this week in Sochi, Russia, the Austria Press Agency reported on Tuesday, citing national committee head Peter Mennel.
Talash says she has received death threats, but she's still dancing.
The stance of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in potentially banning athletes who kneel in support of anti-racism protests is a breach of human rights, the Global Athlete movement said on Sunday. Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter states that "no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas".
Tokyo Olympics organisers are focusing on their new Games start date in 2021, they stressed on Friday -- even if the coronavirus outbreak complicates preparations for the remade extravaganza. At his first remote news conference on Friday, Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto emphasised that Games organisers are aiming towards the new start date of July 23, 2021, regardless of how long it takes to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
Organisers reported 10 new cases connected to the Olympics including media, contractors and other personnel, down from 15 on Saturday.
The National Stadium, set to host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, is one of the venues that has been successfully secured for 2021.
The IOC said in a statement that the North and South have agreed to march under a single flag at the opening ceremony and would field a united team in the women's ice hockey.
Tokyo Olympics organisers added that they are working on more than 200 ideas to simplify and reduce costs for the rescheduled Games.
Qualifying boxing matches for Asia and Oceania for the 2020 Olympic Games have been cancelled due to fears over the new flu-like coronavirus
Rio de Janeiro mayor Eduardo Paes has described Australia's Olympic committee as a "source of aggressions" against Brazil after it banned the team's athletes from visiting the city's favelas during the Games in August. Australia's team chef de mission Kitty Chiller told News Ltd media on Sunday that their Olympians would be barred from going to the urban slums, even on official tours, in accordance with advice from a security expert. "There is still much unfamiliarity about Rio and Brazil," Paes told Brazilian media. "There is a certain dramatisation. And between us, the Australian committee has been a source of aggressions to Brazil." Rio's favelas are among the most violent and crime-ridden areas of the city. Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) president John Coates, a member of the International Olympic Committee's coordination commission, said in April 2014 that Rio's Games preparations were the worst he had ever seen and critically behind schedule. Coates was more generous in a January assessment, however, saying he felt "very positive" about the delivery of the Games.
Rome's new mayor, Virginia Raggi, pulled the plug on the city's bid to host the 2024 Olympics, saying staging the summer games would bury the Italian capital under mountains of debt and tonnes of cement.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said on Thursday that organisers were looking at ways to simplify the Games.
Addressing a parliamentary committee, medical adviser Shigeru Omi said organisers should explain to the public why they are going ahead in the middle of a pandemic.
She added that Suga had encouraged her to make the Games successful but declined to say anything further until after a Tokyo 2020 executive board meeting later in the day, when an official announcement on the post was likely to be made.
'If the Olympics were to spread infection, then what are the Olympics for?'
After devoting years to the difficult pursuit of perfection, some fall wayward.
The Olympics will take place without spectators in host city Tokyo, organisers said on Thursday, as a resurgent coronavirus forced Japan to declare a state of emergency in the capital that will run throughout the event.
The 21-year-old, born in Japan to a Haitian father and Japanese mother but raised in the United States, saud it will be special for her to represent host Japan at the Tokyo Games.
The head of a Japanese doctors' union warned on Tuesday that holding the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer, with tens of thousands of people from around the world, could lead to the emergence of an "Olympic" strain of the coronavirus.
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