A WEEK IN WHICH THE OLYMPIC FLAME BEGAN TO BURN OUT

Saturday, March 14

Japan prime minister Shinzo Abe says the Olympics will go ahead as planned but that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would have the final say.

Sunday, March 15

The IOC announces it plans to hold emergency talks with the heads of international sports organisations on Tuesday.

Monday, March 16

The Olympic boxing qualifying tournament in London is cancelled. The event was moved behind closed doors but then forced to stop.

Tuesday, March 17

The IOC says it is fully committed to the Tokyo Games and with four months to go there is no need for any drastic decisions at this stage. The IOC ‘encourages all athletes to continue to prepare as best they can’. British heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson says ‘we’re trying’ but the information from IOC and local government is contradictory.

Wednesday, March 18

A gymnastics World Cup event in Tokyo is cancelled. It was due to serve as an Olympics test event.

Thursday, March 19

World Athletics chief Lord Coe says it is too early to decide whether to cancel the Tokyo Games but ‘nobody is saying we’re going to the Games come what may’. He says: ‘Let’s not make a precipitous decision when we don’t have to four months out.’ Japanese Olympic Committee member Kaori Yamaguchi, a judo medalist, says the IOC is ‘putting athletes at risk’ and Olympic rowing champion Sir Matthew Pinsent says it is ‘folly’ for IOC to insist the Games will go ahead.

Friday, March 20

IOC president Thomas Bach says the Olympic flame can be ‘a light at the end of the tunnel’ in the current crisis. The flame arrives in Tokyo and the Torch Relay is due to start in Fukushima on March 26. World Series Sevens places the Olympic Games repechage qualifying event under review. The Badminton Horse Trials are cancelled. It was a major trial for eventers to qualify for Tokyo.

Saturday, March 21

The governing bodies for athletics and swimming in the United States call for the Olympics to be delayed for at least 12 months.