The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to the postponement of many major sporting events and a re-shuffling of the calendar.

With the moving of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to 2021, many competitions originally scheduled for next year have been moved to 2022, including World Championships in athletics, beach volleyball and aquatics.

This means they will take place in the same calendar year as Birmingham 2022 with Thomas, an eight-time Olympic medallist in swimming from 1996 to 2004, predicting a "bumper year of sport".

"With the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games to 2021, there was always going to be a domino effect of rescheduling world sport," she said.

"In 2022 it is certainly going to be a bumper year of sport and there is going to be a unique set of opportunities for our athletes to compete on the world stage.

"There is going to be a lot of action and the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games are right smack bang in the middle of it."

The Commonwealth Games are due to take place from July 27 to August 7, returning to the United Kingdom eight years after the Scottish city of Glasgow held the Games in 2014.

Despite the crowded calendar in two years time, Thomas believes athletes will adapt.

"While it is highly disappointing the Tokyo Games are not going ahead this year, and while it has been a challenging time for athletes, there is going to be a lot of opportunities for athletes to compete on the world stage hopefully next year and in 2022," she said.

Other events moved from 2021 to 2022 include the World Para Athletics Championships and the International Cycling Union Road World Championships.

Thomas also spoke of the staff planning for the Commonwealth Games, whose work will now need to change.

"In July 2021, we would be right in the middle of the planning stage with a lot of our sports, when they will now be at the Tokyo 2021 Games, so we will need to adjust our own planning as we ramp up towards Birmingham," she said.

"This situation is going to develop the skills of not only athletes but our coaches and our administrations, in their resilience but also in their adaptive skills to be able to manage these setbacks and changes.

"But I believe there is always a silver lining to every cloud if you look hard enough, and I believe this enhanced resilience and adaptability can be positives from what has been a major disruption to people's lives."