Confidence rises and challenges remain
The 6-month countdown to the Tokyo Olympic Games held behind closed doors is the “bottom line”
January 23 is the six-month countdown to the opening of the Tokyo Olympics. International Olympic Committee President Bach and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga have successively delivered speeches that the Olympics will definitely be held as scheduled, greatly reducing people’s anxiety about whether the Olympics will be held. As many regions of Japan, including Tokyo, are still in a “state of emergency” under the epidemic, the Olympic Games still face huge challenges.
epidemic
11 prefectures in Japan are in a state of emergency
Bach accepted an interview with Kyodo News Agency on the 21st, saying that the Olympic Games will definitely be held. After entering 2021, Yoshihide Suga has also emphasized the determination of the Japanese government to support the Olympic Games on time five times. Even the senior Canadian International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound, who questioned the Tokyo Olympics earlier this month, also changed his position, saying that the Tokyo Olympics could be held as scheduled. These speeches have added great confidence to the holding of the Tokyo Olympics.
Of course, in order to really dispel people’s doubts about the Olympics, Japan must first control the epidemic. After all, shortly before the announcement of the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics in March last year, all parties were still claiming that the Olympics would be held as scheduled.
Japan has been hit by the third wave of the new crown epidemic since November last year, far more severe than before. The epidemic in Japan is most severe in the metropolitan area centered on Tokyo. From the beginning of January to the present, 11 of the 47 prefectures and prefectures in Japan have been in a state of emergency, and the deadline is February 7. Even the southernmost prefecture in Okinawa declared a state of emergency by itself on the 19th.
pressure
Only 16% of the people hope it will be held as scheduled
Recent public opinion polls show that more than 80% of the Japanese people support the cancellation or postponement of the Olympics, and only 16% hope the Olympics will be held as scheduled. The Japanese government is facing a dilemma between hosting the Olympic Games, preventing the epidemic, safeguarding the economy and people’s livelihood, and facing three important tasks that are both closely linked and conflicting.
Regarding the Tokyo Olympics, Japan and the International Olympic Committee generally have the same interests, but there are also differences. These differences were once publicized, for example, when it comes to additional expenditures after the Olympic Games are postponed. According to sporadic information disclosed by Yoshiro Mori after the postponement of the Olympics, the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee urgently transported the Olympic flame from Greece back to Japan in March last year, mainly because of concerns that the International Olympic Committee might cancel the Tokyo Olympics.
In June last year, the International Olympic Committee discussed with insurance companies about compensation after the Olympics were cancelled. The pressure on them is less, and the economic loss caused to Japan by one year of delay will reach 2.83 billion U.S. dollars. Increasing economic losses will have a huge impact on the international image of the host.
challenge
Nearly half of the seats in the qualifiers are still undecided
There are more than 200 countries and regions participating in the Olympic Games. Now that the epidemic situation in the entire world is still unstable, bringing more than 10,000 athletes from regions with different epidemic situations to Tokyo is itself a matter of great risk.
During the one-year postponement of the Olympic Games, many athletes’ training and competitions were greatly affected, and their attitude towards participating in the Olympic Games was different from before. In addition, there are still nearly half of the seats in various Olympic events that have not been determined. When the epidemic is uncontrollable, if the Olympic qualifiers cannot be conducted normally in the next few months, whether the seats of the players can be determined as soon as possible is also a big challenge for the Olympics.
Bach said in an interview before that the top priority of the Tokyo Olympics is safety. As long as safety is guaranteed, there are no taboos in other areas. Outsiders speculate that this may be implying that the Olympics can be held without spectators. The Tokyo Olympics are being held behind closed doors. According to Pound, this is the “bottom line” of the Olympics. As long as the Olympic games can be carried out and the games will be broadcast to all parts of the world through TV broadcast, even if there is no audience at the game site, Tokyo and the International Olympic Committee can minimize losses.
According to the plan of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee, the Olympic test competition that was cancelled last year will be restarted on March 4. The first competition will be the FINA Synchronized Swimming Olympic qualifier. This competition would have athletes from other countries and regions. Participate, but Japan has now almost completely banned the entry of foreigners. If this test cannot be held normally, the Tokyo Olympics will face greater challenges.
The British “Times” reported on the 21st that Japanese officials were the source of the news that the Japanese government “privately determined that the Tokyo Olympics would have to be cancelled due to the new crown epidemic” and hoped to host the Olympics again in 2032. The Japanese government, the Japanese Olympic Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee all stood up on the 22nd to deny this news.
In an interview with Kyodo News on the 21st, IOC President Thomas Bach, who is visiting Japan, said that the Tokyo Olympics will definitely be held as scheduled this summer. Although the epidemic is severe now, the IOC has no “Plan B”.According to Xinhua News Agency
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