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Masked and muted Olympics will still dominate crowded 2021 in sports
PARIS, Dec 16, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The rescheduled Tokyo Olympics will be the
centrepiece of a crammed sporting year in 2021 as sports administrators who
had their calendars wiped away by the coronavirus pandemic try to fill the
gaps even as a second wave hits.
While the Games will still be called the 2020 Olympics, they have been
changed by Covid-19.
Tokyo organisers and the Japanese government are struggling with increased
costs and, despite the growing possibility of vaccination, whether to allow
foreign visitors and what safeguards and restrictions will apply to
spectators and participants.
In early December, organisers said the delayed Games will cost at least an
extra $2.4 billion as the unprecedented peacetime postponement and a raft of
pandemic health measures inflate a budget that was already over $13 billion.
Enthusiasm appears to have waned in Japan. A poll in July showed that just
one in four people wanted to see the Games held in 2021 — and a majority
backed either further delay or cancellation.
“Whether it’s seen as too much or that we have done well to contain the
costs, I think it depends on how you look at it,” said Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro
Muto.
Organisers have reduced the number of free tickets, scaled down the
opening ceremony and made savings on mascots, banners and meals, but so far
have cut just $280 million.
“It will be simple rather than festive, but I hope it will be something
moving that encourages people through the power of sport,” he said.
The organisers are determined to go ahead next year, even if the pandemic
has not receded.
They want to welcome foreign spectators and plan to waive quarantine
requirements.
They plan to require fans to wear masks, to refrain from cheering and keep
their ticket stubs for contact tracing.
Athletes will be asked to arrive late and leave early, minimise their time
in the Olympic village, refrain from speaking loudly, avoid physical contact
and wear masks when not competing or training. They will be screened on
arrival and undergo tests every four to five days.
“I think the Games will go off,” World Athletics president Sebastian Coe
said this month. “What nobody is clearly across at the moment, is… whether
we are going to have a stadium populated by good, noisy, passionate fans.”
The challenge for the organisers is considerable, since 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.
– Lost time –
Meanwhile, other sports, desperate to make up for lost time are, for the
most part, manoeuvering to minimise overlaps between their revamped schedules
and the Olympic behemoth.
The National Basketball Association, which only finished its coronavirus-
hit 2019-20 season on October 12, agreed with its players union to start the
new season on December 22, cut the regular season by 10 games and end it on
May 16.
This was partly to allow players to compete in Tokyo, although since the
playoffs are scheduled to continue until July 22, the day before the Games
start, some of the biggest stars could still miss Tokyo.
One event that has not, so far, publicly rethought its plans is the other
marquee casualty from the summer’s sporting wipeout: the European football
championships.
Still called Euro 2020, they are scheduled to stick to the planned 12-city
format but some member nations have reportedly been urging UEFA to put all
the matches in one country.
The significance of the Olympics goes beyond sports.
Following on from the diplomatic gestures at the PyeongChang Winter Games
in 2018, there is talk of inviting North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il 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 pointedly gave the World Athletics
President’s award to Tommie Smith, Peter Norman and John Carlos, the three
400m runners who raised a fist in a black power salute on a medal podium
protest at the 1968 Mexico City Games.
“Sadly, their cause and what they so bravely stood for has not been
consigned to the history books,” said Coe.
Thomas Bach, the head of the International Olympic Committee, quickly
responded with irritation, saying any gestures opposing racism, such as
taking a knee, would be against his rules prohibiting “political and
religious marketing” at the Games.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0916 hrs