Amid the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, Olympic teams from Canada and Australia have formally withdrawn their athletes from the 2020 Olympics games. The Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Committees announced in a statement that they will not send their athletes to Tokyo this summer. Canada and Australia said they would not be sending athletes to the Tokyo Olympics if the Games went ahead as scheduled this year as pressure on organizers to postpone because of the coronavirus pandemic reached fever pitch on Monday. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Japanese government had on Sunday and Monday slightly shifted their position that the Games would start as planned on July 24, announcing a month-long consultation over other “scenarios”. That was not sufficient for the Canadians or Australians, who said they would not be participating if the Games were not pushed back to 2021. Canada’s Olympic Committee (COC) and Paralympic Committee (CPC) released a statement saying that while they recognized the complexities of a postponement, “nothing is more important than the health and safety of our athletes and the world community”.