The period between March and April next year seems to be gaining options at the moment due to calendar availability, after both parties agreed last Tuesday to postpone the Olympics "beyond 2020 but before the end of the summer of 2021".

This was revealed by sources close to the IOC to the Japanese newspaper Nikkei, which reports today that the international organization will make a final decision on the definitive dates after the consultations it is conducting with the Japanese organizers and the sports federations involved.

The sports organizations analyzed the different possibilities in a teleconference held on Thursday, in which IOC President Thomas Bach gave himself a three-week deadline to reach a resolution, as reported by the Japanese state broadcaster NHK.

Bach had pointed out on Wednesday that the first consultations would be with the 33 international federations participating in the Games, and he noted that summer is only "one of the options" for the Olympics that the Japanese capital will host in 2021.

In the teleconference meeting, several federations supported holding the Games in spring to avoid the intense heat that usually occurs in Tokyo in the summer, while other participants proposed studying autumn as an option, according to sources from these organizations to the aforementioned Japanese media.

Japanese Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto stated today that "there are problems to be resolved in the schedule" for 2021 due to the international competitions already scheduled around the summer when asked about the possibility of setting the Games between March and April.

"The dates will be defined by listening to all opinions from the IOC, the Tokyo government, and the organizing committee. We will closely monitor this whole process to collaborate in making the best possible decision," the minister said in statements to the media.

"A decision will be made based on the viability of the schedule and the availability of the venues," said Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike in the same vein, adding that her priority at the moment is "to prevent the spread of coronavirus infections" in the capital.

The organizing committee, for its part, expressed its desire yesterday for new dates to be set soon for the Olympics in the Japanese capital, which were originally scheduled between July 24 and August 9 next summer.

"There are many aspects that cannot move forward if the new period (of the Games) is not quickly decided," Muto said after the first meeting of the special working group created by the organizing committee of the Olympics for the postponement of the competitions.