Rio de Janiero, Mar 22 (IANS): The Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) said on Saturday that this year's Tokyo Olympics should be suspended owing to the global coronavirus outbreak. The COB also proposed the Games to be held on the same dates in 2021.

"The IOC has faced immense problems before with the episodes that ended in the cancellation of the Games in 1916, 1940 and 1994, because of the world wars, and the boycotts of Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984. They knew how to overcome these obstacles and the Olympic flame is stronger than ever," Wanderley said in a statement posted on the COB website.

Earlier, the United States Track and Field had also called for the Olympics to be postponed. Nic Coward, the new chairman of UK Athletics, has also urged for the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics.

On Friday, a member of the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) called for the Tokyo Olympics to be postponed. Retired judo athlete Kaori Yamaguchi, who is also a member of the JOC executive board, told Japan's Nikkei newspaper that athletes are not able to prepare adequately for the Olympics scheduled to start from July 24.

World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe has said that it is possible to postpone the 2020 Olympics if necessary.