The International Olympic Committee (IOC) event was scheduled to begin at the Grimaldi Forum here tomorrow, before concluding on Saturday (March 14).

A letter signed by IOC medical and scientific director Richard Budgett and Roald Bahr, chair of the Scientific Committee, confirmed the event will now be held next year.

The new dates of the event are February 11 to 13 in 2021.

“It is our intention that the 2021 scientific programme of invited lectures, workshops and abstract presentations remains the same but we will provide you with the opportunity to revise the contests as needed to ensure the programme is up to date,” a statement read.

“Chairs of symposia and head-to-head debates, keynote speakers, workshop presenters, free communication presenters and poster presenters will be contacted in due course with information on this revision process.

“The deadline for making such changes will be October 1, 2020.

“In addition, we also intend to open up for a new round of abstract submissions, for new poster presentations.”

The conference was postponed last week, with organisers saying that an increasing number of speakers were unable to attend because of “institutional travel restrictions”, caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

Restrictions had been placed by authorities in Monaco on people travelling from countries most affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

The conference was previously held in 2011, 2014 and 2017.

It sees international specialists in injury and illness prevention meet to share their latest findings and collaborate on how best to protect athletes' health, both in and out of competition.