One by one, some of the world's grandest sporting events have fallen or faded away to a later spot on the calendar.
March Madness. The Masters. Baseball's opening day.
On Tuesday, at least four more huge spectacles were taken down by the coronavirus: the French Open tennis tournament and Kentucky Derby horse race were both postponed until the fall, while soccer's biggest continental championships the Euros and Copa Amrica won't be played until next year.
Which brings us to the biggest event of all.
Get ready for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
In what seems a fait accompli, the International Olympic Committee will almost surely be forced to delay the Summer Games for the first time a staggering move that the organization and its Japanese partners seem to be slowly accepting after defiantly proclaiming for weeks that the games would go on as planned even as the world dealt with a frightening pandemic.
"We are in solidarity with the whole of society to do everything to contain the virus," the IOC said in a statement after meetings Tuesday.
"The situation around the COVID-19 virus is also impacting the preparations for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and is changing day by day." Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was even more vague when asked again whether the Olympics, set to begin July 24, could be held on schedule.
"I want to hold the Olympics and Paralympics perfectly, as proof that the human race will conquer the new coronavirus," Abe said after a video conference with other world leaders this week.
The best time for that is next year.
While the IOC has a bit of wiggle room to put off such a momentous decision the only modern Olympics that weren't held as planned were in 1916, 1940 and 1944, all canceled because of world wars it shouldn't be stretched out for more than another month.
That wouldn't be fair to the athletes, who already are facing uncertainty and trepidation over disruptions in training and the loss of valuable competitions that help them prepare for the Summer Games.
"If they did postpone it, it would take a lot of pressure off this situation right now," said Bob Bowman, longtime coach of the most decorated Olympian, now-retired swimmer Michael Phelps.
"People are scrambling. Most people are not training. If we had a little more time to get ready, that would probably be a good thing."
"That's what makes the training so meaningful, when you're able to learn something at the last meet and then go work on it."
"That's exactly what we don't have right now. That doesn't mean it can't be done, but it's definitely different. We're in uncharted territory."
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