There's no way on earth the Olympics are happening this year. And the powers that be trying to hang on to it is rather unsettling imo.

There's no way on earth the Olympics are happening this year. And the powers that be trying to hang on to it is rather unsettling imo.

The worst part is that they have only just acknowledged what we have known for weeks - that the games may need to be postponed. Until now, they have been insisting that they will definitely go ahead as scheduled. If they are postponed just for a couple months (although that seems over-optimistic at the moment), that could benefit athletes as the weather will be more favourably by then.

BOXING: British Boxing Board of Control suspends all events until the end of April.

FOOTBALL: All football in Spain, including La Liga, is put on hold indefinitely while the country deals with the spread of coronavirus.

FOOTBALL: The Irish Football Association extends the suspension of the football season in Northern Ireland until 30 April.

FORMULA 1: The Azerbaijan Grand Prix, due to take place on 7 June, becomes the eighth race of the 2020 season to be postponed or cancelled.

RUGBY LEAGUE: Australia's National Rugby League, which had been continuing behind closed doors, is suspended.

Olympics postponed until 2021 according to Dick Pound.

Japan and the IOC have finally faced reality and said the Olympics will be postponed until 2021.

Damn right. There’s a dozen sports that can’t do any training right now in a lot of countries and it was deeply unfair for them for the IOC to recklessly push on with profiteering over the well-being of athletes and their ability to train and perform at their peak for what is the absolute pinnacle of their career

Good move. Would be irresponsible for them to be held now and I suspect it's contributed to the rather lackluster response to the virus in Japan (trying to downplay the reported limits of the outbreak there and being generally slow to do most measures). And setting it for a year from now rather than cancelling until 2024 (which I thought might have been a possibility) means that fewer athletes miss out on their prime years and we still do get a Tokyo Olympics.

Sky are allowing their customers to pause their sports channel subscription payments online instead of having to wait hours to get through on the phone so I've done that today.

Sky are allowing their customers to pause their sports channel subscription payments online instead of having to wait hours to get through on the phone so I've done that today.

That's great to hear.

DIVING: British Swimming cancels the London leg of the 2020 Fina Diving World Series. It had initially been postponed.

FOOTBALL: The suspension of Japan's J League is extended into May, along with the associated cup competition.

FOOTBALL: Unicef's Soccer Aid fundraiser, scheduled to take place at Old Trafford on 6 June, is postponed.

MOTORSPORT: The opening three rounds of the British Superbike Championship - at Silverstone, Oulton Park and Donington Park - are confirmed as postponed.

SWIMMING: British Swimming cancels all its end of season domestic championships.

So basically everything's come to a halt now which is expected but still sad. Hopefully some sport can resume behind closed doors in the coming months.

Yep. In summary the effect of Coronavirus in sport is that anything that you enjoy or have looked forward to is ruined. In fact that could be applied to pretty much anything else right now. One positive is that it can't and won't last forever!

 

So basically everything's come to a halt now which is expected but still sad. Hopefully some sport can resume behind closed doors in the coming months.

It is sad but completely understandable why. Maybe at the beginning of May it might get going again.

 

Indy 500 postponed til August. Talk of the Tour de France taking place behind closed doors.

Japan and the IOC have finally faced reality and said the Olympics will be postponed until 2021.

 

thank the lord

In addition, ITV4 will also play out the five games that featured the England football team in some of their most memorable head to heads, as well as the final between Germany and the Czech Republic.

 

Football fans will be able to relive the drama from the epic Summer of ’96, during which host nation England fought to bring the trophy back home, with a squad made up of sporting legends Alan Shearer, David Seaman, Paul Gascoigne, Sol Campbell and Teddy Sheringham.

 

1996 was the last time England reached the semifinals of the European Championships and remains fondly remembered thanks to Baddiel and Skinner and The Lightning Seeds’ chart-topping anthem Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home).

 

Paul Mortimer, Head of Digital Channels & Acquisitions, ITV said:

 

“Nothing brings the country together like Euro fever, and with this year’s tournament postponed to 2021, we’re giving our audience a chance to relive one of the all-time great sporting events, Euro ’96. Thanks to the ITV Hub and ITV4, there’ll be no shortage of vintage football classics for fans to indulge in over the next few months.”

AMERICAN FOOTBALL: The NFL draft will go ahead on its scheduled dates of 23-25 April - but with no players, fans or media present.

ATHLETICS: Diamond League meetings in Stockholm (24 May), Naples/Rome (28 May) and Rabat (31 May) suspended.

GOLF: The Evian Championship, one of five majors in the women's game, will move into the week vacated by the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics. Originally scheduled for 23-26 July at Evian-les-Bains, the Championship will move to 6-9 August.

Meanwhile,the Belarus Football League continues. I'm just looking at a live stream on Betfair of Slavia Mozyr v BATE Borisov. There are plenty of fans in the ground. The main stand is where the camera is so I can't see that many but they're making lots of noise so I'm judging that the stand is full. I can hear some people coughing.

 

President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the former Soviet Republic in an authoritarian manner since 1994, described the coronavirus pandemic as a "psychosis, and I will not be dissuaded from it."

 

The president of the football federation, Vladimir Basanov has termed the pandemic as "no critical situation". A DW query about at what point the Belarusian league might cease play went unanswered.

Turkey's most capped player, former goalkeeper Rustu Recber, is in a "critical period" in hospital with coronavirus.

BOXING: Dillian Whyte's heavyweight fight against Russian Alexander Povetkin is moved to 4 July.

BOXING: British Boxing Board of Control suspends all events until the end of May

CRICKET: Lancashire chairman David Hodgkiss dies at the age of 71 after contracting coronavirus.

FOOTBALL: Barcelona players will take a 70% pay cut during the coronavirus pandemic and make additional contributions to ensure non-sporting staff receive full wages.

FOOTBALL: Tottenham allow their stadium to be used to support vulnerable individuals affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

FORMULA 1: Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko said he advised his drivers to become infected with coronavirus while the season is in hiatus.

GOLF: The Irish Open, scheduled for May 28-31, becomes the latest European Tour event to be postponed.

HOCKEY: England Hockey extends the suspension of all hockey activity until 30 June. The sport was originally suspended until 15 April

OLYMPICS: The Tokyo Olympic Games will start on 23 July, 2021 and run to 8 August after being postponed for a year.

PARALYMPICS: The Paralympic Games, originally due to start on 25 August, 2020, will now take place between 24 August and 5 September, 2021.

Wimbledon has been cancelled, which comes as a massive surprise to all the people who just assumed it had been cancelled already.