[4] On 7 September 2013, Tokyo was selected as the host city of the 2020 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, during the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
[8] The IOC stated that their Japanese partners and then-prime minister Shinzo Abe "made it very clear that Japan could not manage a postponement beyond next summer [2021] at the latest".
[11] On 23 July 2020, one year ahead to the rescheduled opening ceremony, a promotional video featured swimmer Rikako Ikee carrying the lantern inside the empty Japan National Stadium giving a message about the pandemic and an impact of the athletes, and planning to return onto the sport after being diagnosed with leukemia.
[12] On 20 June 2021, a few weeks before the first official case of COVID-19 was declared, a member of Ugandan Olympic delegation tested positive for the virus upon arrival in Japan.
As a result of the threat of the virus, this restricts family members and friends of the athletes, many events are being held without spectators in attendance as a precautionary measure to combat the disease and a state of emergency imposed in the Greater Tokyo Area on 8 July 2021.
The first cases were reported on 2 July when the Tokyo Organising Committee announced that two Japanese citizens working for the Olympics had been tested positive.