The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced a first-of-its-kind postponement of the Summer Olympics.
国际奥委会(IOC)首次宣布推迟夏季奥运会。

The Tokyo Games are being delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The virus has affected daily life around the world, making planning for the sporting event in July nearly impossible.
由于冠状病毒大爆发，东京奥运会被推迟。该病毒已经影响了世界各地的日常生活，导致7月份的奥运会几乎不可能进行规划。

The IOC released a statement on the Tokyo Games Tuesday. It said they “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.”
国际奥委会周二就东京奥运会发表了一份声明。声明称，他们“必须重新将（奥运会）时间安排到2020年以后，但不能晚于2021年夏季，以保障运动员、所有参与奥运会的人以及国际社会的健康。”

Athletes, sports organizations and national Olympic committees had been pressuring the IOC to postpone the games. They noted that the virus had put serious limitations on training and qualifying events, as well as efforts to fight the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
运动员、体育组织和国家奥委会一直在向国际奥委会施压，要求推迟奥运会。他们指出，该病毒严重限制了训练和资格赛，以及与使用兴奋剂作斗争的努力。

The Olympic Rings are displayed at the entrance of the IOC, International Olympic Committee headquarters during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Lausanne, Switzerland, Tuesday, March 24, 2020.

Hayley Wickenheiser of Canada was the first International Olympic Committee member to criticize the IOC for not postponing the games sooner.
加拿大的海莉·威肯海塞尔（Hayley Wickenheiser）是第一个批评国际奥委会没有及早推迟奥运会的国际奥委会委员。

After the announcement to postpone the Olympics, she released a statement on Twitter. It read:
在推迟奥运会的声明发出后，她在推特上发表了一份声明。声明里写着:

“To all the athletes: take a breath, regroup, take care of yourself and your families. Your time will come.”
“致所有的运动员：请深呼吸，养精蓄锐，照顾好自己和家人。你的胜利时刻终将到来。”

IOC President Thomas Bach and Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo spoke by telephone Tuesday morning. The two men, top IOC officials and Japan’s organizing committee agreed to the call to delay the 2020 Summer Games.
国际奥委会主席托马斯·巴赫于周二上午和日本首相安倍晋三通话。他们以及国际奥委会高级官员和日本奥组委同意推迟2020年夏季奥运会。

Olympic cancellations
取消奥运会

Other Olympics — 1916, 1940 and 1944 — have been canceled because of war. But none have ever been postponed for any reason. The Tokyo Games would still be called the 2020 Olympics, although they will be held in 2021.
回顾往届——1916年、1940年和1944年的奥运会——因战争原因取消。但还没有任何一届奥运会因为任何其他原因被推迟。东京奥运会仍将被称为2020年奥运会，尽管这届奥运赛事将于2021年举行。

“The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope,” the IOC said in a statement.
国际奥委会在一份声明中表示：“各国领导人一致认为，东京奥运会可以成为希望的灯塔。”

The decision eases some of athletes’ concerns. They no longer have to move forward with training under near-impossible conditions, unsure of when, exactly, they need to be ready — and for what.
这一决定缓解了一些运动员的担忧。他们无需在几乎不可能的条件下继续训练，他们不确定何时需要准备就绪，以及训练的目的。

“Thankful to finally have some clarity regarding The Olympic Games. A huge decision but I think the right one for sure,” noted British runner Adam Gemili on Twitter. “Time to regain, look after each other during this difficult period and go again when the time is right!”
“所幸关于奥运会终于有了一些明确的消息。这是一个重大的决定，但我认为（决定）肯定是正确的。”“修生养息，在这段困难时期互相照顾，等时机成熟了再出发！”

One reason the IOC took longer to make the decision was because it wanted to have a plan of action. Many of the arenas, sports centers, and hotels in and around Tokyo have special use agreements for the games, which were to open on July 24. Remaking those agreements is doable, but will come at a cost. Tokyo has already spent a reported $28 billion to hold the games.
国际奥委会之所以这么久才做出决定，原因之一是希望制定一项行动计划。东京市内及周边的许多场馆、体育中心和酒店都与奥运会签订了特别使用协议。奥运会将于7月24日开幕。重新制定这些协议虽然可行，但要付出代价。据报道，日本为了举办奥运会已经花费了280亿美元。

“A lot can happen in one year, so we have to think about what we have to do,” said Toshiro Muto, head of the Tokyo Games organizing committee. “The decision came upon us all of a sudden.”
东京奥组委主席武藤敏郎(Toshiro Muto)表示:“一年内可以出现很多变化，因此我们必须考虑必要的应对措施。”“这个决定是突然做出的。”

But for weeks, it was becoming increasingly clear that starting on July 24 was no longer a choice.
但数周来，人们越来越清楚地认识到，7月24日开幕俨然不再是一个选择。

Calls to postpone the Tokyo games
要求推迟东京奥运会的呼声

Almost every sport around the world has suspended play after health officials declared COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, a pandemic. Holding Olympic qualifying events over the next month or two became increasingly unreasonable.
在卫生官员宣布由冠状病毒引起的新冠肺炎（COVID-19）大爆发之后，全球几乎所有的运动项目都暂停了比赛。在接下来的一两个月里举办奥运会资格赛变得越来越不现实。

At first, Olympic committees in Canada and Australia were saying they either would not, or could not, send a team to Tokyo in July. World Athletics and the three biggest Olympic sports in the United States — swimming, track and gymnastics — were calling for a postponement.
起初，加拿大和澳大利亚的奥委会表示，他们要么不愿、要么无法在7月份派队前往东京参赛。世界田径赛和美国三大奥运项目——游泳、田径和体操——都要求推迟。

As recently as Sunday, the IOC was saying it would take up to four weeks to reach a decision. Four weeks ended up being two days.
就在上周日，国际奥委会还表示，需要长达四周的时间才能做出决定。如今四周的期限缩短为两天。

The decision came only a few hours after local organizers said the Olympic torchrelay would start as planned on Thursday. The event was expected to start in the northeastern Japanese prefecture of Fukushima, but with no torch, no torch carriers and no members of public.
这一决定是在当地组织者宣布奥运火炬接力将按计划于周四开始数小时后做出的。这次活动预计将在日本东北部的福岛县开始，但是没有火炬，没有火炬手，也没有公众。

Those plans also changed.
这些计划也会改变。

The Olympic flame will continue burning and be kept in Fukushima. Like everything else in the Olympic world, its next move will be decided at a later date.
奥运圣火将继续在福岛燃烧并由其保存。就像奥林匹克赛事的其他安排一样，奥运圣火的下一步安排将在稍后的时间决定。

I’m Mario Ritter, Jr.
我是马里奥·里特。

Words in This Story

pandemic - n. an occurrence in which a disease spreads very quickly and affects a large number of people over a wide area or throughout the world

reschedule(d) – v. to change the plans for the date of an event to a different date

athlete(s) – n. a person who is trained in or good at sports, games, or exercises that require physical skill and strength

qualifying – adj. having the skills that are required or do the things that are required to become a member of a team or to be allowed in a competition

enhancing – v. increasing or improving something

beacon – n. someone or something that guides or gives hope to others

regarding – prep. relating to something

torch – n. a long stick with material at one end that burns brightly

prefecture – n. any one of the areas into which some countries such as Japan and France are divided for local government