The International Olympic Committee (IOC) working group dealing with the issues raised by the postponement of the Olympic Games by one year, to the summer of 2021, approved on Tuesday a series of amendments to the principles relating to qualification systems for Tokyo 2020.

"This revision has been made to take into account the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the new dates of the Olympic Games and replaces the previous principles," the IOC wrote in its statement.The Olympic body has set 29 June 2021 as the new deadline for the qualification period, specifying that the International Federations (IFs) could set their own deadlines as long as they are earlier than 29 June 2021.As already announced, the IOC confirmed that athletes and NOCs (National Olympic Committees) who have already obtained an Olympic qualification place will keep it despite the postponement. In total, 57 percent of the places have already been allocated, with 5,000 places still to be filled."Reflecting, to the extent possible, the process of allocating places from the initial qualification systems for each sport remains the priority. This principle encourages IFs to adopt a similar approach by replacing cancelled events for which qualification places were to be allocated with the same number of events," added the IOC."The International Federations retain full discretion in defining the new deadline for the ranking and the qualification process," added the IOC, aware of the "sensitive nature" of these decisions. "A balance by sport must be struck between protecting athletes who were close to qualifying on the basis of the previous 2020 deadlines and ensuring the participation of the best athletes in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games by allowing the best competitors from the 2021 season to qualify".On 24 March, the IOC decided with the Organising Committee to postpone the Games to 2021, to be held from 23 July to 8 August in the Japanese capital.Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)