IOC Officially Postpones Tokyo Games Due to COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic has forced almost every major sports league and event to be suspended as the world at large attempts to flatten the curve by quarantining or self-distancing.

It was inevitable, but we are finally being provided with updates on the biggest sporting event in the world scheduled for this year: the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Even though their postponement was all but official on Monday morning, the IOC and Tokyo's committee officially released a statement that delayed the games early on Tuesday.

This move came the morning after the United States Olympic Committee requested to the International Olympic Committee that the Olympics be postponed.

There wasn't much suspense here, though. Longtime member of the IOC Dick Pound revealed in an interview with USA Today on Monday that the Tokyo Olympics would be postponed.

"On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided," said Pound. "The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know."

This news comes less than 36 hours after Canada announced that it wouldn't athletes to the Games unless the event was delayed, setting the wheels in motion.

It was really a matter of when, not if this bombshell announcement was coming.