Though the event was postponed in 2020 due to COVID-19, the Summer Olympics will happen in Tokyo, Japan from July 23 to August 8, 2021. With this new upcoming event along with the turbulent times of 2021, there come along new rules and regulations with the new year. The event will still be called Olympics 2020, even though the year is different. 

In order to protect athletes, broadcasters, and anyone else involved with the Olympics, the Olympic Committee has started to update playbooks, which are used to show the rules. Depending on the situation of Covid-19 in Japan, close to the time of the Olympics, the playbooks will be updated. 

“For all Games participants, there will be some conditions and constraints that will require flexibility and understanding,” said IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi, “We are providing the main directions at this stage, but naturally don’t have all the final details yet; an update will be published in the spring and may change as necessary even closer to the Games.” 

In some changes, according to the Washington Post, Japan will only allow Japanese spectators due to COVID-19. Obviously, due to the pandemic, the number of people able to go will be limited and the information on this will be updated closer to the event. 

The athletes will have to follow certain rules including not being able to use public transportation, regular COVID-19 testing, not allowed to visit public places that are not approved and overall changes within the Olympics as a whole. 

One of the rules being upheld during this year is Rule 50, which states, “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”

But according to CNN, the US Olympic Committee and Paralympic Olympic committee announced that USA athletes will be allowed to participate in social justice by holding up a fist, kneeling, or wearing some kind of garment for social justice. 

In a statement, the Olympic committee said, “In such cases, the political neutrality of the Olympic Games is a way to protect athletes from political interference or exploitation.”

Click here for more information on Rule 50. 

There will be many athletes competing in the Olympics 2020, including Regan Smith, who’s a 19-year-old swimmer and holds the world record for 100 and 200-meter backstrokes. She is one of the many athletes affected by the pandemic and the Olympics being postponed.  

“Especially after the postponement I just kind of wanted to get my head away from that for a little while,” Smith said. “I’ve been having a blast training fly and free. I’m really excited about both of those events, so we’ll see.”

Here is a list of the USA athletes roster for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. 

You can watch the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics on NBC, CNBC, and USA Network while will air at 7:00 AM Eastern Time, 6:00 AM Central Time, and 8:00 PM in Japan. 

If you want more information on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, click here for the official Olympics website.