IOC decision on new Tokyo Olympics date expected within three weeks as autumn Games ruled out

Olympic bosses are looking to finalise a revised date for the Tokyo Games in the next three weeks.

A host of date options, ranging from April to October, were on Thursday put forward to IOC president Thomas Bach in a teleconference call with 33 international sports federations.

But Bach ruled out an autumn Olympics, having previously made it clear the Games will take place no later than the summer of 2021.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, meanwhile, said on Friday the Games would definitely go ahead next year, despite the massive logistical operation of rearranging them.

Abe ruled out the possibility they might be moved to 2022, saying it would “make it seem like a different Games altogether”.

The federations, meanwhile, were informed by Bach that all competitors to have already qualified for Tokyo 2020 — 57 per cent of an estimated 11,000 athletes — would keep their places at the pushed-back Games.

However, the IOC and the federations have a huge undertaking to be able to put the appropriate number of Olympic qualifiers in place in time.