Australia tells athletes to prepare for a postponed Olympics

On Sunday, Australian team chef de mission for Tokyo 2020 Ian Chestermantold his country's athletes to start preparing for a Northern summer Olympics in 2021 saying, "It's clear that the Games can't be held in July."

The move appeared to shadow the stance of theCanadian Olympic Committee that also said on Sundaythat it too would not besending its athletesif the Games were staged this yearbecause of the risks associated with the spread of COVID-19.

Earlier in the day, the IOCannounced that it would decide within the next four weeks whether or not to postpone or possibly even scale down the Games. Its president, Thomas Bach, explained the decision in aletter to athletes, while also acknowledging the extended timeline might not be popular.

However any move to scale down the Games appears unlikelyfollowing comments made by Japans' Prime MinisterShinzoAbebefore a parliamentary session on Monday. Abe said a postponement of the Tokyo Olympics would be unavoidable if the Games cannot be held in a complete way because of the novel coronaviruspandemic.

"If it is difficult to hold [the Games]in a complete way, a decision of postponement would be unavoidable," Abe said.

Shortly after Bach's statement,Australia issued its ownstatement advising its athletes to prepare for an Olympics in 2021.

The Australian committee's executive board agreed unanimously that "an Australian Team could not be assembled in the changing circumstances at home and abroad."

The Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to start July 24 with the Paralympics slated to follow on Aug. 25.