It was only a matter of time before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics to change tack. After months of speculation, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Tuesday night that the games would be postponed until 2021.
Online media in Japan and abroad had been anticipating this possibility since the start of February, when rumors of the Olympics’ impending cancellation sparked organizers to deny it.
But the reports kept coming, prompting more denials and even publicity stunts by aspiring London mayors and cringe-inducing headlines from The Sun. It was all fairly standard for a newsworthy story, but one without much validity at the time.