The Tokyo Olympics was earlier scheduled to be held in July this year. (Noriko Hayashi/The New York Times)

Tokyo Olympics will be held from July 23 to August 8 in 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed on Monday. The Tokyo Olympics was earlier scheduled to be held in July this year, but was postponed for the first time in history due to the steep rise in coronavirus cases worldwide.

"I want to thank the International Federations for their unanimous support and the Continental Associations of National Olympic Committees for the great partnership and their support in the consultation process over the last few days," IOC President Thomas Bach said at the official announcement.

"I would also like to thank the IOC Athletes’ Commission, with whom we have been in constant contact. With this announcement, I am confident that, working together with the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Japanese Government and all our stakeholders, we can master this unprecedented challenge," he added.

IOC, IPC, Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and Tokyo Metropolitan Government announce new dates for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 https://t.co/QITtT5dcl8 pic.twitter.com/DHi4u74ZXa — Olympics (@Olympics) March 30, 2020

The new dates were proposed after several factors were kept into consideration, primarily to avoid any conflicts in sporting events and to minimize the logistical challenges faced by organizers.

The Olympic flame will stay in Japan and the games will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, the IOC had earlier stated.

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The dates for the Paralympic Games were also confirmed by Mori Yoshiro, president of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee. It will be played from August 24 and will conclude on September 5 in 2021.