Much has been said about sport’s unifying qualities. Yes, it has the ability to bring together disparate cultures, religions and so on, but it often unites people behind a common cause too, as we are witnessing in Japan.
The Olympic Games is often held up as the ultimate unifier. When 200-odd countries set aside their differences for a fortnight and deliver unscripted drama on sport’s brightest stage, it provides powerful optics. It is perhaps for that reason politicians and sponsors are so drawn to the Games.
Notwithstanding the boycotts of 1976 (Montreal), 1980 (Moscow) and 1984 (Los Angeles), the show has always gone on, but this year is different, as the world deals with a redoubtable and deadly adversary in Covid-19.
The summer Games in Tokyo have already been pushed back by a year as a result of the pandemic, but despite a surging infection rate in Japan organisers are hell-bent that they will start in the last week of July.
There is, however, increasing discontent among the Japanese that organisers are forging ahead. Results from a poll announced earlier this week suggest 83% of the population believes the Games should not go ahead.
It is not difficult to see why. Japan is experiencing a fourth wave of infections, a situation worsened by the fact that only three percent of its citizens have been vaccinated. Critics argue that their government’s initial wait-and-see strategy lacked the urgency to deal with the pandemic decisively from the outset. The government has argued that its vaccine rollout programme has been hampered by western nations not making sufficient supplies available and that its citizens take some convincing to queue up for a jab.
It means Japan, a country held up by many as a “first-world” trendsetter, is well behind nations considered less technologically advanced in dealing with the pandemic.
Though athletes and international federations will be hugely impacted should the Games be canned, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Japanese government should not lose sight of the bigger picture.
All of this is playing out against the backdrop of officials frantically trying to make the Games happen in a safe cocoon.
It is, of course, one thing to argue the Games will be safe for athletes, officials and anyone associated with them, but quite another to convince the Japanese public that the impact of the two-week jamboree will not leave them with an unwanted legacy.
Already news outlets are reporting how crucial medical supplies and expertise are being diverted from cities and towns to help bring Tokyo to readiness for the Games.
According to reports, Osaka is facing “medical collapse”, while Nagoya is just one of the cities now operating under a state of emergency due to the pandemic.
As a result, towns which were supposed to host athletes have started opting out. Other opponents to the event argue that their government should be ploughing money earmarked for the Games into the ailing economy to stimulate job creation, as well as intensifying efforts to rebuild areas devastated by the Fukushima disaster in 2011.
Though athletes and international federations will be hugely impacted should the Games be canned, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Japanese government should not lose sight of the bigger picture.
There is nothing sporting about putting on a show with the pong of death in the air. Even India came to that realisation, belatedly pulling the plug on the Indian Premier League (IPL) amid runaway infection rates.
The IOC will likely leave Tokyo with its coffers bulging, but at what cost?
Staging the Games in a country that does not want them could have a lasting impact on the Olympic movement and the ideals it seeks to foster.
Lives cannot be sacrificed at the alter of Citius, Altius, Fortius and the Olympic flame should be extinguished, temporarily at least. Let the Games end ... before they begin.
Sunday Times Daily
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