From 'best prepared' to postponed: Tokyo 2020's rocky road

Olympic officials regularly lauded Tokyo as the best prepared host city they had seen. But no one could have planned for the coronavirus pandemic that has forced an unprecedented postponement of the 2020 Games.

And while organisers won praise, a plagiarism scandal, corruption charges and budget woes all clouded the horizon even before the virus outbreak threatened the Games.

Here, AFP Sport chronicles the path to postponement.

- 2013: Tears of joy -
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- 2015: Stadium scrapped -
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- 2015: Logo dropped -
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- 2018: Cute mascots -
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- 2018: Boxing blues -
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- 2019: French charges -
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- 2019: Marathon move -
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- 2019: Budget blowout -
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- 2019: Russian ban -
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- 2020: Cancellation 'unthinkable'
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- 2020: Historic postponement
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