MONTREAL -- For the first time in 76 years, the Olympics won't happen in the year they were supposed to be held. The Tokyo Olympics have been postponed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Here's a look at other times the Olympics have been cancelled or nearly cancelled since the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896.
 
Because of the Second World War, the Games were cancelled in 1940 and 1944. They were also cancelled during the First World War, in 1916.
 
The Games were also put in jeopardy four times in their modern history.
 
In 1972 Munich Olympics, in West Germany, were nearly cancelled after a terrorist group took 11 Israeli Olympic team members hostage. They were eventually killed, along with a police officer. But in the end, the Games were never suspended.
 
During the Montreal Games, in 1976, the first Olympics in Canada were boycotted by 29 countries after the IOC refused to ban New Zealand. The country's national rugby team had held a controversial tour in Apartheid-era South Africa.
 
The Moscow Games were boycotted in 1980 by 66 countries, including Canada. The group led by the United States was protesting against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
 
In 1984, 14 Eastern Bloc countries and their allies boycotted the Los Angeles Games in an unofficial answer to the U.S. boycott of 1980.