2020 Tokyo Olympics Officially Postponed

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has reached an agreement with the International Olympic Committee (I.O.C) President Thomas Bach to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics for about one year.

A joint statement provided by the I.O.C and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee today reads:

"In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community."

Surfing was set to make its Olympic debut this year at Tsurigasaki beach on Chiba Prefecture's Pacific coastline. However, surf fans will now have to wait another year to see the world's best go head-to-head for the chance to bring home surfing's first Olympic medals.

The last time the Olympics were either postponed or canceled was during the Second World War. Since then, the Games have avoided postponement from other international crises including the attacks on both September 11th, 2001 and the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Earlier this year, the WSL provisionally qualified 18 surfers to represent the sport's Olympic debut.

The list of the CT surfers who have provisionally qualified are as follows:

MEN
Italo Ferreira
Gabriel Medina
Jordy Smith
Kolohe Andino
John John Florence
Jeremy Flores
Michel Bourez
Owen Wright
Julian Wilson
Kanoa Igarashi

WOMEN
Carissa Moore
Caroline Marks
Stephanie Gilmore
Sally Fitzgibbons 
Johanne Defay
Tatiana Weston-Webb
Silvana Lima
Brisa Hennessy

Photo: Provisional Olympic qualifiers at the 2019 Billabong Pipe Masters © WSL / Ed Sloane