Bad News For The 2021 Tokyo Olympics

[JBS]

Keep your fingers crossed that the 2021 Tokyo Olympics don't get postponed. This is the first article I am seeing on this... looking across the web right now to see if there are more. Post them if you find any...

Hopes for Tokyo’s Summer Olympics Darken (Published 2021)

Organizers postponed the Olympic Games for one year last March. Nearly a year later, prospects are getting bleaker.

www.nytimes.com

 

[GymDadWA]

If it is postponed that would probably lead to a pretty unceremonious end to the older team USA gymnasts (Simone, Mckayla, Etc.)

 

[txgymfan]

They have said before that it will not be postponed but it could be canceled.

 

[Flicfliclay]

There was an article the other day that Florida offered to hold them if Japan couldn't. I do know they said they will not postpone again.. What a mess, and they really need to figure it out for these athletes asap!

 

[Aussie_coach]

I honestly don't know how they are going to hold an event on the scale of the Olympics by July.

If they do choose to hold it with no spectators, that will destroy many of the benefits Japan would have been set to gain from hosting the Olympics, with tourism. And having lots of tourists travelling about the country just wont be an option by July.

 

[bogwoppit]

It is so hard to see the Olympics being staged in 2021. Even if they limit it to coaches and staff, the logistics are unimaginable.

Not every athlete will be vaccinated, let alone the support staff needed. It would hardly be fair to fast track vaccination programs for sports with at risk people still waiting.

Honestly I think it is bonkers.

 

[Jenny]

I agree they need to cancel it and move on.

 

[Aussie_coach]

It’s so hard on the athletes at the moment. I agree, they need to make a call.

Elite athletes put their bodies through the wringer to prep for such an event, and have already had to extend that period after the Olympics were postponed last year.

 

[JBS]

I just don’t understand why they wouldn’t just push them to 2022 instead of cancelling them.

 

[JBS]

Here is another article dated today...

Article expired

News on Japan, Business News, Opinion, Sports, Entertainment and More

www.japantimes.co.jp

 

[Jenny]

I just don’t understand why they wouldn’t just push them to 2022 instead of cancelling them.

They said it's not viable to move them back again.

 

[Dahlia]

It's also possible Japan will hold them "no matter what", but that countries may choose to not attend if they feel it's too risky for their atheletes.

 

[JBS]

They said it's not viable to move them back again.

I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t besides that someone is just stating that they can’t. Let’s face it... the summer and winter games were held in the same year for decades.

 

[JBS]

Looks like they just came out with these...

Redirect Notice

www.google.com

 

[Faith]

I agree it should be cancelled. The risk to the athletes is too high, there’s a big chance Covid will just rip through that many people in proximity, and even though the % is small, it still means some may be left with career ending lung damage, or even die.

i don’t think we have enough to time to show whether the vaccine would be effective enough at preventing all of the more serious effects, even if we could get all the athletes, coaches, physio’s etc vaccinated.

then we have the paralympics. Where many of the athletes may be high risk.

and that’s even before you get to considering many athletes have had minimal training time, for some the Olympics may be their first competition in over a year. In the UK only certain athletes are allowed to train, so what happens to gymnasts who have planned to make a senior debut last year or this, but now have no opportunity to train or even compete for selection.

So how do they hold trials to ensure fairness? Lots of sports haven’t even had qualification events, so how to they allocate places?

they should push Tokyo to 2024, and Paris to 2028.

 

[Faith]

To add- i am also worried about the ethics of holding the games.

especially with sports like gymnastics, where athletes are very young, often under 18.

Do they really have the choice not to go if their country decides to participate? Especially with funding tied to medals, that could be them blacklisted. Are 13, 14, 15 or 16 year olds competent to decide whether the glory of competing outweighs the risk from the virus. So adults, with a vested financial interest make that decision for them.

we’ve seen the power NGB’s have- unless the Olympics can be proven safe, I think it’s unethical to ask athletes to attend as they pretty much have no choice.

 

[Jenny]

I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t besides that someone is just stating that they can’t. Let’s face it... the summer and winter games were held in the same year for decades.

They said last summer they would defer them one year but that it wouldn't be financially viable to defer them a second time. I can't remember the ins and outs now but when I read the explanation it made sense. They may of course have changed their mind since then.

It may feel safe for those in some other countries like the USA but over here in the UK no travel feels safe. Travelling and competing in an Olympics in 6 months is a nonsense for us sadly.

 

[mommyof1]

I don’t understand how it would be financially viable to hold the Olympics this year.

 

[JBS]

Tokyo is just saying they can't postpone to 2022 as it would be better for them to get the 2032 games. I bet if they were granted the 2032 games with the condition that they must host the 2020 games in 2022... there would be no issue.

 

[ernestine]

I honestly don't know how they are going to hold an event on the scale of the Olympics by July.

If they do choose to hold it with no spectators, that will destroy many of the benefits Japan would have been set to gain from hosting the Olympics, with tourism. And having lots of tourists travelling about the country just wont be an option by July.

That's kind of hilarious. Good ol' Florida always happy to step in an host a gathering of 100,000.