The Tokyo Olympics, which was set to be held in the summer, has been postponed.

Despite many calls for this year's Olympic Games to be postponed due to the coronavirus, Japan were determined for it to go ahead.

But pressure was applied when Canada and Australia both announced on Monday that they would not be sending any of their athletes to the games on Monday.

And now, on Tuesday afternoon, it was announced that the Tokyo Olympics will be postponed until next year.

"The unprecedented and unpredictable spread of the outbreak has seen the situation in the rest of the world deteriorating," a joint statement from the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee read.

"Yesterday, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the COVID-19 pandemic is "accelerating".

"There are more than 375,000 cases now recorded worldwide and in nearly every country, and their number is growing by the hour.

"In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community.

"The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present.

"Therefore, it was agreed that the Olympic flame will stay in Japan. It was also agreed that the Games will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020."

They took their time in announcing the games' postponement, but at least sense prevailed in the end.