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PARIS: The reprogrammed Tokyo Olympics It will be the centerpiece of a crowded sports year in 2021, as sports administrators whose calendars have been wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic try to fill in the gaps even as a second wave arrives.
While the Games will still be called the 2020 Olympics, Covid-19 has changed them.
Tokyo organizers and the Japanese government are struggling with rising costs and, despite the growing possibility of vaccination, whether they will allow foreign visitors and what safeguards and restrictions will apply to spectators and participants.
In early December, organizers said the delayed Games will cost at least an additional $ 2.4 billion, as the unprecedented peacetime postponement and a series of pandemic health measures inflate a budget already exceeding $ 13 billion. of dollars.
Enthusiasm seems to have waned in Japan. A poll conducted in July showed that only one in four people wanted the Games to be held in 2021, with the majority supporting further delay or cancellation.
“Whether it is considered too much or that we have done well to contain costs, I think it depends on how you look at it,” said the Tokyo 2020 CEO. Toshiro muto.
Organizers have cut the number of free tickets, cut the opening ceremony, and saved on pets, banners and meals, but so far they have only cut $ 280 million.
“It will be simpler than festive, but I hope it is something moving that encourages people through the power of sport,” he said.
Organizers are determined to move on next year, even if the pandemic has not subsided.
They want to welcome foreign viewers and plan to waive the quarantine requirements.
They plan to demand that fans wear masks, refrain from cheering, and keep their ticket stubs to track contacts.
Athletes will be asked to arrive late and leave early, minimize their time in the Olympic village, refrain from speaking loudly, avoid physical contact, and wear masks when not competing or training. They will be examined upon arrival and tested every four to five days.
“I think the Games will skyrocket” World athletics President Sebastian Coe said this month. “What nobody sees clearly at this point is … if we are going to have a stadium populated by good, loud and passionate fans.”
The challenge for the organizers is considerable, as the Games bring together 11,000 athletes from 206 countries, accompanied by at least 5,000 officials and coaches, 20,000 media representatives and 60,000 volunteers.
Meanwhile, other sports, desperate to make up for lost time, are, for the most part, maneuvering to minimize the overlaps between their revamped schedules and the Olympic behemoth.
The National Basketball Association, which only ended its 2019-20 season affected by the coronavirus on October 12, agreed with its players union to begin the new season on December 22, cut the regular season by 10 games and end it on December 16. may.
This was in part to allow players to compete in Tokyo, although since the playoffs are scheduled to continue until July 22, the day before the Games kick off, some of the biggest stars could still miss Tokyo.
An event that, until now, has not publicly rethought its plans is the other great victim of the sporting devastation of the summer: the European soccer championships.
Still called Euro 2020, they are slated to stick to the planned 12-city format, but some member countries have been urging UEFA to put all matches in one country.
The meaning of the Olympic Games it goes beyond sports.
In the wake of diplomatic gestures at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games, there is talk of inviting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the Tokyo Games and holding a summit with South Korea, China, the United States and host Japan.
Another dominant theme in 2020, opposition to racism, threatens to cause friction in Tokyo.
In early December, Coe deliberately presented the Athletics World President’s Award to Tommie Smith, Peter Norman and John Carlos, the three 400-meter runners who raised a fist in a black power salute at a protest for the medal podium in the 1968 Mexico City Games.
“Unfortunately, their cause and what they so bravely championed has not been relegated to the history books,” Coe said.
Thomas Bach, the head of the International Olympic Committee, he quickly responded with irritation, saying that any gesture that opposes racism, such as kneeling, would be against its rules prohibiting “political and religious marketing” at the Games.
