The twelfth edition of the Games was awarded by the IOC, in August 1936, to the city of Tokyo. Shortly after, as a result of the Sino-Japanese War, Japan withdrew from hosting the celebration and in July 1938, the 1940 Games were awarded to the city of Helsinki. The Finns were just in time to establish the programme (16 disciplines, with the games scheduled from the 20th July to 4th August): but the war between Finland and the Soviet Union, first of all, and then the world war put a stop to everything.