Today, Thursday, 23 July 2020 marks the One-Year-to-Go milestone for the postponed Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 due to be held in summer 2021.

A series of activities have been planned to mark this occasion, under the message of the Olympic brand campaign #StrongerTogether, which recognises the importance of solidarity and unity in all our diversity during these difficult times, acknowledging the power of sport and in particular the Olympic Games to bring people together.

Activities are digitally-led, centred around the Olympic flame, and the resilience and strength of the athletes as they prepare for the Games. 

A special ‘One Year to Go’ flame ceremony was streamed live today from Japan’s National Stadium to celebrate unity and hope on the road to Tokyo 2020.

Today also sees the @Olympics Twitter account team up with a number of past Olympic Games host cities and Olympic Movement stakeholders to recreate the historical journey of the Olympic flame in one joint thread that will unfold throughout the day. There will also be interactive activities on the Olympics Instagram accounts – @Gorin in Japanese and @Olympics in English.

From 24 July to 9 August, the Olympic Channel will present “Great Olympic Moments”, featuring some of the most inspiring, exciting and unforgettable Olympic memories that have made history at the Olympic Games.

The modern form of handball made its debut at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany, with a men’s competition, followed by the addition of a women’s competition at the following Games, in 1976 in Montreal, Canada.

Today marks one year to go until the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games! More than ever, the sporting world and beyond...

Posted by International Handball Federation - IHF on Thursday, July 23, 2020

Since then, handball has become one of the most popular sports of the Games, selling the second-highest amount of tickets, behind football at the previous edition – Rio 2016. Beach Handball was added to the Youth Olympic Games programme for the 2018 edition, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

New handball competition dates confirmed

Tokyo 2020 also confirmed the revised handball competition dates for the rescheduled Games.

The handball competitions start with the preliminary round and the men’s competition goes first, starting on Saturday 24 July, with three sessions of two matches each (09:00-12:30, 14:15-17:45, 19:30-23:00), the women’s competition starts the following day, on Sunday 25 July, with the same session times.

The preliminary match competitions then alternate daily with the same session times:

Men: Monday 26, Wednesday 28, Friday 30 July and Sunday 1 August
Women: Tuesday 27, Thursday 29, Saturday 31 July and Monday 2 August

Following the completion of the preliminary round the men’s quarter-finals are played on Tuesday 3 August (09:30, 13:15, 17:00, 20:45), followed by the women’s quarter-finals on Wednesday 4 August at the same times. The semi-finals then follow, with the men playing on Thursday 5 August (17:00, 21:00) and the women on Friday 6 August at the same times.

Saturday 7 August sees the men’s medal matches take place with the bronze played at 17:00 and the gold at 21:00, followed by the victory ceremony. The women then play for Olympic Gold on Sunday 8 August at 15:00, followed by the victory ceremony, with the bronze medal match preceding at 11:00.

All games will be played at the Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo.

The Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony will take place on Friday 23 July and the Closing Ceremony will be on Sunday 8 August, both from 20:00-23:00.

All times in Japan Standard Time (JST)

Dakar 2022 – Youth Olympic Games postponed until 2026

Senegal and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have mutually agreed to postpone the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2022 to 2026 which “allows the IOC, the National Olympic Committees and the International Federations to better plan their activities, which have been strongly affected by the postponement of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, by the subsequent postponements of major international sports events, and by the operational and financial consequences of the global health crisis,” according to a statement from the IOC.

Dakar 2022 was set to welcome back men’s and women’s beach handball after the overwhelming popularity and success of the sport when it made its debut at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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