Focus: GS-III Disaster Management, Prelims
Why in news?
- The 2020 Tokyo Olympics has been postponed to be held before the summer of 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe, the International Olympic Committee announced on 24th March 2020.
- The Games were scheduled for July 24-August 9, but after telephone discussions between IOC president Thomas Bach and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a historic joint decision was taken for the first postponement of an Olympics in peacetime.
What was said about the Postponement?
- The Olympics was postponed to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community.
- The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present.
- The exact dates is a question for the Tokyo organising committee and an International Olympic Committee panel overseeing the preparations.
Impact
- The move would be a devastating blow for Tokyo, which had won widespread praise for its organisation, with venues finished well ahead of time and tickets massively oversubscribed.
- The Olympics, which has experienced boycotts, terrorist attacks and protests, but has been held every four years since 1948, would be the highest-profile event affected by the virus that has killed thousands and closed sports competitions worldwide.
- Training has become impossible for many athletes and exposes them to the risk of contracting or spreading the disease.
- Competitions and qualifiers have been scrapped, while international travel is severely limited.
- Tokyo was spending some $12.6 billion to host the Games, according to its latest budget, and experts believe a postponement could cost it some $6 billion in the short-term before recouping it when it eventually goes ahead.
International Olympic Committee (IOC)
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is a non-governmental international organisation which came into existence in 1894.
Aims:
- The IOC has the aim of ensuring the regular holding of the Olympic Games and fostering Olympism and the Olympic movement. Olympism, is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining, in a balanced whole, the qualities of body, will and mind.
- Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.
- The goal of the Olympic movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair-play.
Olympics (Summer)
- The Olympic Summer Games take place during the first year of the Olympiad (period of four years) which they are to celebrate.
- They are the exclusive property of the IOC, which entrusts their organisation to a host city seven years in advance.
- The programme of the Games must include at least 15 of the total number of Olympic sports (sports governed by recognized International Federations and admitted to the Olympic programme by decision of the IOC at least seven year before the Games).
