"Also with Swiss Timing, who is the official scorer, not only for the Olympics but also the World Games... We would have lost all of those had we kept our World Games on the same date or even tried to move it up a little bit in 2021." Another factor that led to the decision to postpone the Games was the overlap of three sports with the Olympics -- karate, softball and sport climbing -- which would have forced competitors to skip the World Games. "They're all big draws in the United States, they're growing spectator sports," Sellers added. "They're important to keep as part of our program because we think there could be some interesting storylines between Olympic champions now and 2021 that will compete and perhaps defend their titles at the World Games." The move to postpone the World Games to 2022 means there will now be two international multi-sport events in the same month in Birmingham, albeit in two different countries.

Source: International New York Times April 04, 2020 12:11 UTC