Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Not even a week after the 2020 Olympics were postponed the International Olympic Committee has finalized new dates for the Tokyo games.
Not even a week after the 2020 Olympics were postponed the International Olympic Committee has finalized new dates for the Tokyo games.
An International Olympic Committee spokesman revealed 2020 Tokyo Olympics organizers have agreed on a new date for the Games in 2021.
The new dates of the Tokyo Olympics have been finalized.
Less than a week after announcing that the Games would be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, organizers have decided on a new start date of July 23, 2021, according to an International Olympic Committee spokesman. The closing ceremony will be held on Aug. 8.
The Tokyo Olympics had previously been slated to start almost exactly one year earlier, running from July 24 through Aug. 9.
A postponement of roughly one year had long been thought to be the most logical and likely outcome, given the logistical hurdles involved with the alternatives.
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IOC president Thomas Bach had left open the possibility of holding the Games in the spring, which would have featured more favorable weather and allowed Japan to show off its famous cherry blossom trees. But springtime would have presented significant logistical challenges and possibly prevented top athletes in sports like basketball from competing altogether.
The finalized dates will bring additional clarity both for athletes, who can now begin to tailor their training schedules to the new dates, and for international federations, which can begin to reschedule conflicting events.
World Athletics, the international governing body that oversees track and field, said it has already been in contact with organizers of its 2021 world championships in Eugene, Oregon, which are scheduled to occur in August 2021. Those will now likely be postponed to 2022.
FINA, the international governing body for swimming, has also indicated that it would reschedule its world championships if they overlapped with the Games.
The Paralympics were rescheduled to Aug. 24-Sept. 5.
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Will the U.S. Open be played in June and how is a golf equipment company helping first responders? All this and more on Golfweek Rewind.
The USGA addresses the status of the 2020 U.S. Open, the IOC makes a decision about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and a golf gear company lends a hand to first responders to the coronavirus pandemic.
Take a look at the week’s top stories on the latest episode of Golfweek Rewind featured below.
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The 2020 Olympics in Tokyo have been officially postponed. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters in Tokyo he and International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach agreed to postpone the games until 2021. When the Japanese Prime Minister’s office expects the games to be played can be found in the video above.
Our Hero of the Week is Seamus Golf, a small brand based Oregon, which decided to help hospitals, medical personnel and first responders around the country as COVID-19 rages. Here’s how they’re making an impact.
The USGA released a statement last week that said no decision has been made to change the June date of the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. While postponement is a possibility, the USGA said it is monitoring all available guidance from the CDC, World Health Organization and other officials to “do what is in the best interests of the community for the health and safety of all those involved.” In mid-April, the USGA plans to make an official announcement regarding the U.S. Open.
The Evian Championship has been rescheduled. One of the LPGA’s five majors, the Evian Championship has been moved from July to August.
More information on these top stories and all the latest cancellations and postponements can be found in the latest edition of Golfweek Rewind featured above.
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Will NBA players attend the Olympics in 2021? Will the games overshadow the NBA? Could a different group of players go to Tokyo than planned?
You can get this content every Saturday morning in your email inbox. Click here to subscribe to the HoopsHype Weekly newsletter.
OLYMPIC BASKETBALL: With the announcement this week that the Olympics would be getting postponed until 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak, things regarding the upcoming Games got interesting from an NBA perspective. That’s because we now have to wonder: Depending on when the Olympics are rescheduled, could that prevent NBA players – not just Americans, but from all over the world – from participating?
After all, we don’t even know when the NBA will be returning to complete the 2019-20 campaign – if they do at all. If the mid- to late-June projections are true, that would leave the league without enough time to start the 2020-21 season in October like they usually do, likely pushing back the start date of next year’s campaign, too. There’s little chance if that’s the case, that the timeline for the Olympics and 2020-21 season don’t clash, leaving us without the possibility for NBA players joining in on the competition.
What’s more, and even worse for the league, let’s say the Games occur in April or May when the NBA playoffs usually take place, will the postseason get overshadowed by the vastly popular and global Olympics? That could be a nightmare scenario for Adam Silver and Co.
Perhaps the 2020-21 season is planned with the Olympics in mind in order to avoid competing against the once-every-four-year festivities and allowing for NBA players to participate. But if they aren’t, basketball in the Games might not be as fun as it usually is.
HOPEFUL CORONA UPDATE: Our own Alex Kennedy spoke to former NBA forward Donatas Motiejunas, who plays in China, to discuss what things are like in Shanghai now that they’ve successfully flattened the curve. Motiejunas was happy to share that the massive Chinese city is slowly coming back to life.
SLAM DUNK CHAMP: Two-time Slam Dunk champion Jason Richardson dominated a couple of All-Star weekends in his heyday, but he never did so as an All-Star himself. The 13-year NBA veteran feels he should have made a few All-Star rosters, though. He discussed that and much more recently with us.
CLUTCH GENE: Curious about which NBA players have been the most productive during what the league defines as “clutch time” (when the score is within five points in the final five minutes of regulation or overtime) over the past 24 years? You’re in luck, as we broke down what the numbers say about 50 popular NBA stars’ clutchness here.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN: We recently talked to four-time All-Star and University of Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway, who said a lot of interesting things, including that if Shaq had stayed in Orlando, they would have won championships (plural) together.
LOOKING BACK: We re-ranked a couple of classic drafts, the one from 1998 and the one from 1999, to determine what the actual draft orders should have been. A couple of international players, Dirk Nowitzki and Manu Ginobili, made big jumps to No. 1 in both rankings.
SCARY NIGHT: Jazz rookie Juwan Morgan discusses what the night that the NBA season got postponed was like, an important first-hand account as a teammate of Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.
BIG IMPLICATIONS: The coronavirus-forced break of NBA action will present major challenges to both the league and its players, including a potentially (much) low salary cap and a huge loss of Basketball Related Income.
SNEAKER LIFE: Recruiting and pitch meetings are just as important in sneaker free agency as they are for regular player free agency. Find out why here.
FRESH POD: We were joined by ex-NBA guard Larry Hughes, who talked about playing with Michael Jordan and LeBron James, losing his brother, Justin, to a heart issue, being limited by injuries throughout his career and more.
The Evian Championship, one of five LPGA majors, has been moved back two weeks to dates previously occupied by the Olympic Games.
More shuffling is taking place on the LPGA schedule. With the Olympics being moved off the calendar and likely into 2021, two weeks of potential dates are now open in late July and early August. The LPGA has announced that the Evian Championship, one of the tour’s five majors, has been moved from July 23-26, its original slot, to Aug. 6-9, when the Olympic women’s golf competition would have been played.
It will now take place the week before the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open, which is scheduled for Aug. 13-16 in North Berwick, Scotland. The AIG Women’s British Open will follow on Aug. 20-23.
“We greatly appreciate the willingness of Franck Riboud, Jacques Bungert and the team at the Evian Championship to move dates and align with our European swing,” said LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan. “This adjustment makes for easier travel for players and assists us as we look to reschedule previously postponed events during a crowded summer and fall timeframe. Like all our corporate partners, the team at the Evian Championship has always taken great steps to elevate the stage for our athletes. This 2020 schedule shift is yet another example of them supporting our players and our Tours during a very difficult time around the world.”
This is the second major on the LPGA calendar to change dates in 2020. After the ANA Inspiration – which would have taken place April 2-5 – was postponed due to the coronavirus, Whan announced a rescheduled date of Sept. 10-13.
The LPGA has not seen competition since the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open ended on Feb. 16. The next nine events were canceled or postponed in the wake of the virus, and the next possible competition date is May 14, which would be the first round of the Pelican Women’s Championship, an inaugural event to be played in Belleair, Florida.
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Tiger Woods, who was on the outside of making the team before the Olympics was postponed, presumably will still have time to make the team.
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The onset of 2020 looked so promising for Tiger Woods.
Last year he won the Masters – his 15th major championship and first in 11 years – tied Sam Snead for the most victories in PGA Tour history with his win at the Zozo Championship in Japan and further confirmed his return to elite status by being the best player in last year’s Presidents Cup while captaining his troops to victory.
He was healthy, happy and eyeing a defense of his title at the Masters, a chase for a record-setting 83rd PGA Tour title and a pursuit of a berth on the U.S. golf team in the Summer Games in Tokyo.
And then the coronavirus turned into a global pandemic.
His defense of his fifth green jacket is on hold and his hunt for that record-breaking 83rd PGA Tour title suspended as the PGA Tour and most of professional golf is grounded. And after Tuesday’s official postponement of the Tokyo Games to next year, Woods won’t be playing for the red, white and blue this summer on the outside chance he would have made the team.
The postponement of the Olympics is the latest dagger to a sport whose 2020 calendar was stacked with titanic events – the Players Championship; four major championships and four World Golf Championships events; the Summer Games and the Ryder Cup.
The Players was canceled; only one WGC event has been played; the Masters, PGA Championship and Olympics postponed; and the U.S. Open, British Open and Ryder Cup are on the clock as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise around the world.
Woods, who went to the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles when he was 8, and many others including world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, No. 2 Jon Rahm and Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama had the Olympics circled on the calendar.
“Over the years, having friends compete in the Olympics, seeing golf be part of the Olympics, it would be an honor to represent my country. Hopefully next year I can have a good year and qualify,” Woods said at the Zozo Championship in October.
Woods and others will now have to wait through another birthday. Woods, 44, who was on the outside of making the team before the Olympics was postponed, presumably will still have time to make the team. Qualifying for Tokyo was to end June 22, but a new date will need to be established.
For now, the Official World Golf Ranking and the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking have been frozen in place until further notice. As was the case in Rio for the 2016 Summer Games when golf returned to the Olympics after a 112-year-absence – and Justin Rose won the gold, Henrik Stenson the silver and Matt Kuchar the bronze – 60 players will be in the field.
The top 15 players in the Olympic Golf Rankings (basically the Official World Ranking) would be eligible, with a maximum of four players per country. There is a maximum of two players per country if that country does not have two or more players ranked in the top 15.
The USA would be represented by Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed. But Johnson has said he wouldn’t play in the Olympics, so Patrick Cantlay would be his replacement. After Cantlay is Webb Simpson. Woods, ranked No. 11, is next. Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau are also ranked in the top 15.
As of right now, McIlroy would lead Ireland, Rose would defend his gold medal for England along with Tommy Fleetwood. Australia would be represented by Adam Scott and Marc Leishman, Spain would field a team of Rahm and Sergio Garcia. Stenson is in line to represent Sweden.
On the women’s side, the most notable name off the list is Inbee Park, who won the gold medal at the Rio Games. Park is at No. 11 in the Rolex Rankings but sits as first alternate behind South Koreans Jin Young Ko, Sung Hyun Park, Sei Young Kim and Eun Jeong Lee6.
The American team would be comprised of Nelly Korda, Danielle Kang and Lexi Thompson. The host country, Japan, would also have three players: Nasa Hataoka, Hinako Shibuno and Ai Suzuki.
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The postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games gives Inbee Park, 2016 gold medalist in women’s golf, a better chance of qualifying for Tokyo.
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To make the Olympic Team in Tokyo, 2016 gold-medal winner Inbee Park figured she needed to win twice before the June qualifying deadline. Park won the last tournament the LPGA held, the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open, in mid-February before a global pandemic halted the sports world. It would’ve been a tall order to secure a second title with the tour not set to restart until mid-May at the earliest.
But now, with the IOC making the announcement on Tuesday that the Olympic Games will be postponed, Park actually has time on her side.
Officials agreed that the games will be held by the summer of 2021.
“No matter how I say it, it’s definitely an important year for me,” said Park at the start of 2020. “Even whether I get an opportunity or whether I don’t, I think I just want to have a season that I won’t regret. I just want to give myself a lot of opportunities.”
Opportunities are in short supply these days, with only mini-tour tournaments in Central Florida and Phoenix, Arizona, now taking place amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
If the Olympics were held today, Park would be the first alternate on the South Korean team, despite being No. 11 in the world. World No. 1 Jin Young Ko, Sung Hyun Park, Sei Young Kim and Jeong Eun Lee6 would be the four players representing South Korea. Neither Ko nor Sung Hyun Park have competed on the LPGA in 2020.
The top 15 players in the Olympic Golf Rankings are automatically eligible, with a maximum of four players per country.
Added time also bodes well for the Americans, who right now only have three players inside the top 15 (Nelly Korda, Danielle Kang and Lexi Thompson).
Nelly’s older sister, Jessica, is currently ranked 16th in the world. Neither of the Korda sisters competed in Rio.
In 2016, Stacy Lewis was the top American on the board, finishing just outside the medals in a share of fourth place. Gerina Piller tied for 11th and Thompson tied for 19th.
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko took the silver medal and China’s Shanshan Feng claimed bronze.
The host country currently has three players on the qualifying list: Nasa Hataoka, Hinako Shibuno and Ai Suzuki.
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Officials told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday that they have agreed to postpone the 2020 Summer Olympics.
For thousands of athletes around the world, it would have once been considered a nightmare scenario.
And on Tuesday, it finally became official.
In an unprecedented and unavoidable move, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters in Tokyo that he and International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach have agreed to postpone the 2020 Summer Olympics.
According to a tweet from the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office, the two agreed that the Games will not be canceled and “will be held by the summer of 2021.”
It is the first time in modern Olympic history that a global health issue has disrupted the Games.
The announcement followed telephone conversations between Abe, Bach and their respective teams Tuesday. It comes less than 24 hours after long-standing IOC member Dick Pound first told USA TODAY Sports that the Games would not begin as scheduled on July 24.
While the Olympic Games have previously been canceled during periods of war, and complicated by boycotts, this is the first time they have ever been suspended.
The decision to move the multi-billion dollar event will have widespread political, legal, logistical and financial ramifications, both locally in Japan and around the world.
It also figures to cause headaches and heartaches across the international sports community — for federations and leagues that must now adapt their schedules, and for the 11,000 athletes who had spent years training to compete this summer.
Despite its complexities, this path became increasingly inevitable in recent weeks, as the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, continued to spread. The disease, which was first identified in Wuhan, China in December, has now infected people in more than 160 countries around the world, shuttering entire cities and leaving thousands dead.
In the process, it also wreaked havoc on the Olympic qualifying model, forcing several international sports federations and national Olympic committees to postpone or cancel key events. Some athletes and coaches were stranded in foreign countries due to travel restrictions. Training regimens were disrupted. The Greek leg of the Olympic torch relay was held without fans, then canceled.
Yet despite those disruptions, and the rapid spread of the coronavirus, IOC officials and representatives from the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee maintained for months that the Olympics would not be affected. IOC president Thomas Bach urged athletes to continue training as usual, even as questions about the Games continued to swirl.
That determined approach changed as the opening ceremony drew closer and global health concerns about holding the event lingered.
Athletes helped fuel the process by speaking out publicly, or pressuring their sport’s governing body or national Olympic committee to take a stand. In the United States, for example, leaders from swimming, track and field and gymnastics all urged the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to publicly call for postponement, which it later did.
The move to postpone the Games figures to have dramatic financial implications for several stakeholders, including the IOC – whose budget relies in large part on income from broadcast partners related to the Olympics – and Japan, which has already spent more than $28 billion to host these Games, according to the Associated Press.
One Japanese securities firm estimated earlier this month that a cancellation or postponement of the Olympics would reduce the country’s annual growth domestic product growth by 1.4% in 2020.
The IOC has paid insurance premiums north of $12 million in both 2016 and 2018 to protect against the possible disruption of the Olympics, but Bach did not provide a figure for this year’s premium when asked by reporters earlier this month. The IOC had nearly $2 billion in reserve as of its most recent annual report, which was released last summer.
Japanese citizens have embraced their role as hosts of the Games, buying up tickets as soon as they became available. Organizers expected to sell about 7.8 million tickets, with at least 70% of them going to Japanese residents.
Beyond finances, this decision will also cause substantial disruptions for athletes, many of whom have put off college or other opportunities to train full-time with the objective of peaking in July. Now, they will have to put their training on hold. Some might be forced to give them up altogether — their Olympic dreams dashed, a nightmare come true.
The men’s Olympic golf competition was slated for July 30-Aug. 2 at Kasumigaseki Country Club while the women would have played Aug. 5-8. It’s just the latest competition to come off the calendar in the past two weeks, joining regular-season events on tours all over the world. Three major championships have been impacted so far: the ANA Inspiration was rescheduled from April to September while the Masters and the PGA Championship have been postponed with no new date set.
Olympic golf: Latest men’s standings | Latest women’s standings
When the Games are played, each field will include 60 players. The top 15 players in the Olympic Golf Rankings (basically the Official World Golf Ranking, which are currently frozen in place) would be eligible, with a maximum of four players per country.
There is a maximum of two players per country if that country does not have two or more players ranked in the top 15. Japan, as the host country, is guaranteed two players in the field.
Contributing: Nancy Armour, Rachel Axon, Christine Brennan and The Associated Press
It’s looking more and more certain that the 2020 Olympic Games will not happen in 2020.
It’s looking more and more certain that the 2020 Olympic Games will not happen in 2020.
In an exclusive obtained yesterday by USA TODAY Sports’ Christine Brennan, IOC member Dick Pound told her that the Tokyo 2020 games would in fact be postponed.
The IOC did not issue an official statement, however.
The postponement plan seems to be gaining momentum. NHK TV in Japan reported on Tuesday that Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will propose a one-year postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Whenever this occurs, it will be a logistical nightmare to re-arrange, re-schedule, re-everything … which is most likely why the IOC has dragged its feet so long on this.
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Dick Pound told USA TODAY Sports columnist Christine Brennan that the Olympic games in Tokyo will not go on as planned.
With a global pandemic being everyone in the world’s primary concern, the sports world continues to be on hold. The NBA is now on Day 12 since they last played, back on March 11 and sports across the world, even the Turkish Basketball League, are postponed indefinitely. And it’s now only a mere formality that the 2020 Olympics, scheduled for this July in Tokyo, will join the rest of the sports world.
IOC member Dick Pound told USA TODAY’s Christine Brennan on Monday afternoon that the 2020 Olympics will be postponed, with the details of the postponement to be ironed out in the next four weeks. The Australian Olympic Committee has told their athletes, some of whom play in the NBA, to train for the summer of 2021.
With the Olympics going on the postponement, especially if it will be a year until they go on, could make it much easier for the NBA to salvage the 2019-20 season. Without summer commitments to national teams in an Olympic year, players will have much more time to potentially salvage the season, even if they play games without fans.
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