A little over a week before the opening ceremony, there is still a lot of talk about the risks involved in organizing the biggest sports event in the world during a pandemic, even without spectators at sports venues. In Tokyo itself, until the end the Games there will be a state of emergency, only on Wednesday there were over 1,100 coronavirus infections. For about half a year, at most. Much of this is due to the slow vaccination rate in Japan.
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These will be different games. “We regret that there will be no fans in the stands”
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Athletes are supposed to stay in special “bubbles” during the games, but experts believe that this may not be enough to avoid infections with the very contagious Delta variant. All thanks to hotel and games staff who can transmit the virus.
An example of this came from Hamamatsu, a city southwest of Tokyo. Seven cases of COVID-19 among staff have been reported in one of the hotels where several dozen members of the Brazilian Olympic delegation are staying. Fortunately, the Olympians, separated from the rest of the guests, were not infected.
The Russian women’s rugby team of seven was in isolation after the team’s massage therapist tested positive for coronavirus. The same applies to some of the South African rugby team who flew one flight with an infected person. According to the media, there are also infected athletes among those who have already reached Japan.
A very brave declaration by Hubert Hurkacz before the Olympics in Tokyo
The Japanese don’t want “historic” games
When Japan received the Games in 2013, they were to be a celebration of reconstruction after the deadly earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident in 2011. Japanese leaders also hoped that rescheduling the games and moving them to 2021 would help achieve a global victory over the coronavirus, but many countries are now struggling with further spikes in the number of infections.
This also makes the Japanese (as many as 78% of them!) Against the organization of the games in their country, despite great efforts to make them as safe as possible. Playing the games without the audience, in turn, raises questions about the sense of the event, also among potential participants.
President IOCThomas Bach praised the organizers and the Japanese for organizing the event in the midst of the pandemic. “This will be a historic Olympic Games… because of the way the Japanese have overcome so many challenges in the last few years,” Bach told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
One may agree that the Tokyo Games will be historic. The problem is that there are many indications that they will go down in history in a disgraceful way.
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