The 2020 Olympic Games originally slated for July of last year due to the coronavirus pandemic are now on target to begin on July 23rd. This is despite the ever-present coronavirus impact, which included a state of emergency being declared just last week in the host city of Tokyo, Japan.
On the heels of this announcement, recent surveys reveal that overall popular support for hosting the Games is waning within the nation of Japan.
In two polls conducted by Japanese news agency Kyodo and the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) this week, more than 80% of respondents said that the Tokyo Olympics should be canceled or postponed or say they believe the Olympics will not take place. (AP)
Tokyo reported a record of 2,447 new cases last Thursday, a 50% increase from the previous day — which was also a record day. Japan has attributed over 3,500 deaths to COVID-19, relatively low for a country of 126 million. (AP)
The situation led Canadian International Olympic Committee member Richard Pound to say in an interview with BBC, “I can’t be certain [the Olympics will happen] because the ongoing elephant in the room would be the surges in the virus.”
I have two solutions that could be possible
#1 A Continental Games
Each continent hosts a games with in the countries.
1. Africa and Australia (combined)
2.Asia
3. North and South America (combined
4. Europe.
This way it reduces travel and allows a smaller version of the 2020 Games. And results of all can be combined
#2 Postpone until December 2021
By doing this, there will be a greater chance that the population is vaccinated. By the end of summer, countries will most likely be giving the vaccine to groups who haven’t gotten it yet, and it may not be the smartest idea to host an Olympics during that time. If we… Read more »
I really want the Olympics to happen in some form, so I like the thought of smaller teams, all athletes and coaches must be vaccinated, and Japanese only spectators.
If Japan declines to host, I wonder if it could be pulled off by having each sport find their own hosting location, globally. I’d think TV can still cover that so it might not feel that different for viewers. But this would create much smaller groups of people if you still follow the above criteria, perhaps not dissimilar to the ISL and NBA seasons that showed that scope is possible. In that format I doubt there’s a need to build any facilities.
How much bearing on the decision do you think NBC and the advertising money have?
It boils down to NBC vs Covid…who will win?
Terrible…my son and I were frothing to see the likes of Dressel, Morozov and Le Clos thrash it out. But what will be will be….
I don’t see it happening either. Hopefully they can still put on a major meet that folks can taper for.
Let’s cancel and plan on 2024. That is if another virus is not upon us, a world war, or trillions of swarming locusts.
Japan is continuing to have meets. They never shut down restaurants or gyms. They just shorten their business hours. Schools are open.
I still think they should just hold separate competitions for each of the sports at different times .. that way we could still have an Olympics and also avoid too much crowds in one place if you try to hold the different events together at the same time