Will the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games be cancelled?

[rajiv 31]

I'd say Australia   and New Zealand  are the countries where sport has most become pretty normal again with crowds and travel .

All their sporting leagues are played with  normal (unmasked ) crowds .

Of course international arrivals are very closely controlled

 I thought this was well known . Remember the Australian Open ?

 

Never ceases to amaze me how narrow the international perspective of so many here is 

( the Eastern Europeans are the worst -I rather doubt that many could even point out where non European countries are on a map .

But I guess that may be a product of being from a closed country with minimal international contact for so long )

[rafalgorka 1,634]

  On 5/1/2021 at 12:00 PM, rajiv said:

 

Never ceases to amaze me how narrow the international perspective of so many here is 

( the Eastern Europeans are the worst -I rather doubt that many could even point out where non European countries are on a map .

But I guess that may be a product of being from a closed country with minimal international contact for so long )

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Relax, my friend.

 

I honestly think NONE of us here has enough knowledge to say anything liable on pandemics and public health matters and how to handle all of this.

We are just the bunch of sports fans who would like to have a chance to enjoy some sports emotions this summer during the olympics.

All the covid questions are well above our paygrades, I think.

 

And, yes, Polish covid death and cases numbers are terrible and horrific, I am both angry and ashamed of it.

[Quaker2001 251]

  On 5/1/2021 at 8:05 AM, Monzanator said:

 

This actually means there will be more pressure and backlash on Japan. Because if the main issue is how Japan struggles to embrace the pandemic they will be crushed on the global stage. The entire world is dealing with COVID and their excuse to cancel the Games would be "We are struggling". Bullshit. That's not an excuse at all. It looks especially bad for a country that thrives on extreme job culture and their goal to achieve perfection. Frickin' baseball stadiums in USA will open to full capacity later this month IIRC and Japan "is struggling"? They won't get away with that when it comes to the biggest sporting event of them all.

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It's all about the progression of the pandemic.  A few months ago, who was in better shape, a country like the United States with COVID deaths at half a million or Japan where it seemed to be more relatively contained?  Now look at it where a large percentage of Americans are vaccinated and Japan is lagging behind.  And not only that, but COVID is surging there and the medical system is being overwhelmed.  I don't know if that's their own fault or something they couldn't have controlled and yes it's a bad look.  But that's where we need to weigh pressure and backlash on Japan for not being able to deliver the Olympics and questions of whether or not their current situation is a matter of mis-management.

 

Given the animosity that exists in the world towards the IOC, I don't think they'll get the benefit of the doubt here and I feel like more people will sympathize with Japan rather than to bash them that they are "struggling" to host an Olympics.  That may change throughout Europe the Euro goes off without much trouble.  Sitting here as an American who plans to go to at least 2 of those frickin' baseball stadiums next week after I've reached 14 days past my 2nd vaccine dose, I'm torn between wanting Japan to make this happen so I get my Olympics and having sympathy for Japanese citizens whose healthcare system that would burden.  

[Quaker2001 251]

  On 5/1/2021 at 9:09 AM, Orangehair43 said:

The big risk is the Indian Variant, or another similarly risky one,  breaking out in Tokyo - if that happens then teams will withdraw, Australia for example has made entry even for it’s citizens coming from India illegal.

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Travel restrictions seem to magically disappear when it's convenient.  That won't be an issue with regard to these Olympics.  As long as there are testing protocols in place on both ends (before athletes leave their home country and upon their arrival in Japan), the same rules don't apply to everyone else who isn't following those safety measures.

[thiago_simoes 1,425]

  On 5/1/2021 at 9:13 AM, Vektor said:

To be fair, Japan isn't the only wealthy nation that would struggle to host under these circumstances. I think the situtation with Paris2024 wouldn't be substantially better. Brisbane2032 might have already been cancelled, we are lucky that Australia isn't hosting. LA2028 would probably be the best case scenario for COVID, or countries like Great Britain or China hosting again. 

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Wait, what? Trump was the president until January 20, 2021. It's been only three months since that moron left office. Do you really trust the US to host an event while a global pandemic devastates the world? I would not. Of course the situation is better now, but who knows which crazy person might be the US president in 2028...

If you asked me two or three years ago which nation would handle a global pandemic better, I would say Japan. I was completely wrong, though.

[Monzanator 4,611]

  On 5/1/2021 at 4:03 PM, Quaker2001 said:

It's all about the progression of the pandemic.  A few months ago, who was in better shape, a country like the United States with COVID deaths at half a million or Japan where it seemed to be more relatively contained?  Now look at it where a large percentage of Americans are vaccinated and Japan is lagging behind.  And not only that, but COVID is surging there and the medical system is being overwhelmed.  I don't know if that's their own fault or something they couldn't have controlled and yes it's a bad look.  But that's where we need to weigh pressure and backlash on Japan for not being able to deliver the Olympics and questions of whether or not their current situation is a matter of mis-management.

 

Given the animosity that exists in the world towards the IOC, I don't think they'll get the benefit of the doubt here and I feel like more people will sympathize with Japan rather than to bash them that they are "struggling" to host an Olympics.  That may change throughout Europe the Euro goes off without much trouble.  Sitting here as an American who plans to go to at least 2 of those frickin' baseball stadiums next week after I've reached 14 days past my 2nd vaccine dose, I'm torn between wanting Japan to make this happen so I get my Olympics and having sympathy for Japanese citizens whose healthcare system that would burden.  

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People want to see the Games, period. Not even gonna mention the athletes. IOC has a bad press but if the Games are cancelled all the blame will be put on Japan. I have no doubts about it. Every single global event will go ahead starting with Euro soccer in less than 100 days. There will be no excuses for Japan and their struggles.

 

[Vektor 3,326]

  On 5/1/2021 at 4:53 PM, thiago_simoes said:

Wait, what? Trump was the president until January 20, 2021. It's been only three months since that moron left office. Do you really trust the US to host an event during the pandemics? I would not. Of course the situation is better now, but who knows which crazy person might be the US president in 2028...

If you asked me two or three years ago which nation would handle a global pandemics better, I would say Japan. I was completely wrong, though.

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I meant as if LA2028 would happen this year during COVID instead of Tokyo2020. 

[thiago_simoes 1,425]

  On 5/1/2021 at 4:58 PM, Vektor said:

I meant as if LA2028 would happen this year during COVID instead of Tokyo2020. 

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Oh, I got it. But, still, with the situation in the US as bad as it was until January, I believe the Olympics would have been canceled months ago if it had been awarded to LA. Of course, it's all hypothetical, but it would be extremely hard to just wait and see if things would improve. Japan only had the "benefit" of being given one extra year because the pandemic seemed to be under control there last year, but in recent months they have shown they're not exactly as competent and well-prepared as we all imagined. It's not like they're a complete nightmare of a place, like Brazil and India are right now, but still not nearly as safe as they could, and should, have been.

[Quaker2001 251]

  On 5/1/2021 at 4:53 PM, thiago_simoes said:

Wait, what? Trump was the president until January 20, 2021. It's been only three months since that moron left office. Do you really trust the US to host an event while a global pandemic devastates the world? I would not. Of course the situation is better now, but who knows which crazy person might be the US president in 2028...

If you asked me two or three years ago which nation would handle a global pandemic better, I would say Japan. I was completely wrong, though.

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And look at how the United States has progressed through the pandemic since his fat orange ass was voted out of office. 

 

I was saying last year that Japan seemed like a good place to be put into this position that they're trying to deliver an Olympics during a pandemic.  Up until a few months ago, I still thought that.  Now, not so much.  It's pointless to try and bring up the hypotheticals of which country would be able to handle this the best.  We'll never know the answer to that.  But again, it's a legitimate question right now to ask why Japan is facing these troubles when it seemed for a while that they were doing better than most countries, especially this one in their response to the pandemic.

[Quaker2001 251]

  On 5/1/2021 at 4:54 PM, Monzanator said:

 

People want to see the Games, period. Not even gonna mention the athletes. IOC has a bad press but if the Games are cancelled all the blame will be put on Japan. I have no doubts about it. Every single global event will go ahead starting with Euro soccer in less than 100 days. There will be no excuses for Japan and their struggles.

 

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The Olympics are a bigger event than anything else in the world, so it's a much bigger show to put on than something like the Euro, which at least gets spread over multiple cities and countries.  Yes, people want to see the Games, but you can be sure that Japan will point the finger at the IOC if the Games need to be cancelled and I can definitely see more than a few people taking their side on that one.

 

Again, I'm torn between Japan being able to do this, but without it coming at the expense of their citizens.  Because that's the message that's going to resonate with a lot of people, the same way that the Olympics have imposed upon a host city and country in the past and you can be darn sure it's going to fuel the NOlympics movement.