Olympics 2020 Tokyo

It may be unthinkable for Japan to cancel the games. On the other hand when they are confronted with the reality of 13,000 athletes and press corp coming from around a world that is awash with a pretty lethal virus they may change their ideas. The other question is will there be any viable airlines prepared to fly athletes, media and visitors to and from Japan. Will there be visitors prepared to risk and spend a few weeks in a cauldron of humanity from Lord knows where. Then will countries open their arms to all these returning visitors, athletes etc when their own health systems are recovering... if not still swamped that is! The risks of a new inrush of potential virus carriers would be massive. Good grief look at the difficulty of handling the risks involving just one cruise ship alone. This has been a dilemma for a number of countries when confronted with this situation. What if many countries around the world are still recovering from if not still swamped by this pandemic? Germany and the UK have just enacted controls that will stay in place for two years. If the picture Governor Andrew Cuomo is painting in NY State come to pass there is no way most of us will be ready to travel like we used to. Especially if any viable antivirus for distribution to the public is still as many health researchers suggest is still some 12-18 months away.

I may be wrong but I think anyone who is hoping against hope that the Olympics will proceed are extreme optimists. I'm all for optimism but this is bordering on wishful thinking of the desperately hopeful who aren't being realistic.

Chris Young
 
One major hurdle is tryouts for Olympic teams have historically happened leading up to the games. So they have not taken place yet. I do not think any country is in a position right now to be hosting the series of events that encompass making an Olympic team. So the world needs to get real on this - the Olympics are not happening at their current date. Maybe later this year but it would be a better service to the athletes to decide early and decisively. I would say move the games to 2021 so everybody involved can plan accordingly.
 
In addition to conducting qualifying trials for events, many athletes are rapidly losing fitness. Long (long long) ago, I was a fulltime athlete. Training to peak for a specific event starts months, and even years, before the event. Even with social distancing, even athletes in non-team sports won't be able train optimally. And athletes in areas with stricter lockdowns will lose more fitness than those in areas with looser restrictions. It seems to me holding the Olympics in 2020 would be unfair and unsporting, as well as unhealthy.

Also, USA Swimming and USA Track & Field have both asked that the Olympics be postponed.
 
As much as I want sports and TV to return to normal as quickly as possible, since the bulk of my work is sports related, I will be shocked if the 2020 Olympics happen as planned.
 
Japan has noted that their contact with the IOC requires them to stage the Olympics in 2020, but it doesn't set any fixed date. They could hold them the last 2 weeks of December and still be compliant, so ... We will see what happens, but I would be extremely surprised if they occurred on schedule.
 
I guess the Olympic Committee is going through the same pains that NAB and every other event went through. How do you cancel something you've worked so hard for? From the New York Times:

"Calls to postpone the Tokyo Olympics are growing, with sports organizations opposing Olympic officials’ insistence that the Games go on this summer."

On top of that, they threw away $7 billion tax dollars. In December AP News reported they are spending $12.6 billion of which $7 billion is taxpayer money. I don't know why cities sponsor the Olympics. Studies indicate it is always a big financial loss.
 
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Sorry to sound cranky, but I think part of the issue with the NAB wasn't just that they'd worked hard on the show... More that they count on the $25-million (or so) net profit to fund their lobbying efforts in Washington DC and state capitals. Same with the IOC; they make a lot of money off the Olympics...Sure it's an event that lots of people appreciate, but for them, the lost revenue will hurt both their ability to book superfancy hotels and to pursue their philanthropic efforts.

Anyway, I hope the IOC does what's right for the athletes and for the general public.
 
Barry_Green said:
Japan has noted that their contact with the IOC requires them to stage the Olympics in 2020, but it doesn't set any fixed date. They could hold them the last 2 weeks of December and still be compliant, so ... We will see what happens, but I would be extremely surprised if they occurred on schedule.
Click to expand...

Well, in the state of the world right now, that contract is worth about as much as the paper it's printed on. With a lot of countries and governments recent about face in regards to the IOC and the "prestige" of hosting the Olympics, including the US, I don't think the IOC is in any position to strong-arm a sovereign nation into doing anything. Several US Olympic sports/athletes (I believe swimming and track & field) are lobbying to postpone it. If you get several major countries like the US saying they're not going to participate, it's not going to happen, at least not as and when originally planned.
 
This affects me directly. I already had my flight and hotel itinerary for July. The word is that Japan and the IOC are adamant about getting it done in the summer, but with the actual athletes and teams saying they won’t go, its hard to imagine they will happen in the summer. Initially they said that they would re assess in May. Now they’ve changed it to April. What they are saying is that by no means will they be full on cancelled and a worst case scenario would be postponement.
 
Canada is the first country stating they are not going.

It looks like a postpone message from Japan and IOC is only days away....
 
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I knew it was toast when they said "we will assess in May". May? With the whole world showing up you were going to make a decision 2 months before the open ceremonies? Kind of out of touch imho.
 
I understand the aspect of “the show must go on” as it provides distraction and entertainment that can help boost morale and spirits in tough times(although I don’t believe that’s necessarily the IOC’s complete motivation, though), but this is on a completely different plane on so many different levels.
 
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