Olympics 2020 Games postponement signals growing power shift from IOC to athletes

A countdown clock shows the number of days till the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games on display outside a subway station in Tokyo on Tuesday (March 31). The postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics will open on July 23, 2021, organisers said on March 30, announcing the new date after the Games were delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. - AFP

TOKYO/LONDON/NEW YORK: Tweeting from her Toronto couch two weeks ago, six-time Olympian Hayley Wickenheiser had two words for the International Olympic Committee, which had yet to postpone the Tokyo Summer Games amid the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic: "Insensitive and irresponsible."

Days later the IOC acquiesced, delaying the Olympics until July 2021 and sparking what some say could be a permanent shift in power away from the hierarchical governing body to athletes.