Olympians face uncertainty with Tokyo delay because of virus Olympians face

Would-be Olympians and their coaches have gone from days and weeks of mulling one sort of uncertainty raised by the coronavirus pandemic Are the Tokyo Games going to be held as scheduled? to a whole other set of questions now that an indefinite postponement is official.

To begin with: When, exactly, are these Summer Olympics going to be staged? All that's known for sure as of now, based on Tuesday's announcement by the International Olympic Committee and local organizers, is that instead of July 24 to Aug. 9, 2020, they will be sometime any time at all in 2021 (although, oddly enough, they're still going to be known as the 2020 Games).

What will the qualifying rules be? Some sports already finished that process. Others are in a total state of flux.

Will the delay force athletes to contemplate abandoning the Olympics altogether, because retirement beckons? And, if so, what will they decide? "More than anything, it pushes back what life was going to offer," said Cat Osterman, who turns 37 next month and is the oldest player on the U.S. softball team.

"My husband and I have talked about the possibility of having a kid after July of 2020," said Osterman, a pitcher who is one of two holdovers from the team that collected a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics, "and now that has to go into effect after 2021."
Or as Belgian cyclist Greg Van Avermaet, the 2016 Olympic road race champion who turns 34 in May, put it, The postponement means I will be another year older, which isn't ideal, but I know I will be as motivated as ever."