Tokyo Olympics in 2021 will bring world together after Coronavirus pandemic hell

There has been a new Olympic motto knocking around over these past couple of weeks… slower, lower, weaker.

We will leave it to the International Olympic Committee to come up with the Latin translation.

After all, along with the Japanese organisers of Tokyo 2020, the IOC thinking has come over as pretty ancient.

Basically, it amounted to holding on and hoping for some sort of miracle while putting athletes and competitors from all over the world through the emotional wringer.

Blimey, even Donald Trump knew the Games were up a couple of weeks ago when he suggested they should be put on hold.

Knowing the amount of organisation that goes into an Olympic Games, knowing how thousands of Japanese people had already dedicated their lives to it (and that is before the 80,000 volunteers were to begin training), the postponement is saddening.

But the decision to delay the Games for a year, announced by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe yesterday, was way overdue.

At least it was the right one, albeit – apart from cancellation – the only one.

And now the Games staged in 2021 will not only be the greatest show on earth, they will have symbolic significance.

After the world has come through this crisis, it will be determined to live up to that Olympic motto.

Citius, Altius, Fortius. Faster, Higher, Stronger.

And Tokyo in the summer of 2021 will provide the perfect place to do just that.