---
title: "1940 Summer Olympics Cancelled"
year: 1940
canonical: "https://recap.at/1940/1940-olympics-cancelled"
slug: "1940-olympics-cancelled"
recapType: "global_event"
startDate: "1940-01-01"
---

# 1940 Summer Olympics Cancelled

> World War II forced the cancellation of both Summer and Winter Olympics, marking the first modern Games to be suspended due to global conflict.

## Summary

The 1940 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XII Olympiad, was a planned international multi-sport event scheduled to have been held from 21 September to 6 October 1940, in Tokyo City, Japan, and later rescheduled for 20 July to 4 August 1940, in Helsinki, Finland following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. They were ultimately cancelled because of World War II alongside the 1940 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, and were the third games to be cancelled due to war.

## Sources

- [1940 Summer Olympics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1940_Summer_Olympics) - Wikipedia

---
Canonical: https://recap.at/1940/1940-olympics-cancelled