IN A recent survey of Tokyo’s 1,030 residents, “Insidethegames” found that half of them want both the Olympic and Paralympic Games canceled.
But Tokyo’s Olympic officials and the top brass of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have stood pat on their decision to stage the rearranged Games in July 2021.
Tokyo 2020, set to blast off this month, was moved one year because of the Covid-19 pandemic that has already infected 12 million people and claimed more than half a million lives worldwide.
The virus scourge prodded 51.7 percent of those surveyed to postpone again, or even cancel, next year’s Olympics. In the same survey carried out by Kyodo News and the Tokyo MX television channel, 46.3 percent wanted the 2021 Games to proceed. Further, 24 percent favored a second postponement.
Interestingly, 31.1 percent said the Olympics should take place in “a reduced form.” And Toshiro Muto, the chief executive of Tokyo 2020 Olympics, said he was inclined to a “simplified Games,” saying he now has “200 ideas” on how to do it. He did not elaborate, though.
Only 15.2 percent backed the holding of a full-scale Olympics.
The rescheduled Tokyo Olympics are from July 23 to Aug. 8 next year, with the Paralympics due to follow from Aug. 24 to Sept. 5.
But concerns on when the pandemic will subside and on when the vaccine for it is developed continue to create roadblocks to more than 200 nations and territories terrified over health safety once the Games are on.
Even IOC president Thomas Bach himself has said the Games would be canceled if not held in 2021, insisting a second postponement is out of the question.
Logistical challenges since the delay continue to mount that the Tokyo hosts have been grumbling day and night, drawing from Bach this: “...they have a huge jigsaw puzzle and every piece has to fit.”
Athletes are the most affected by all this brouhaha, throwing their training virtually in disarray. To them, peaking is the key to victory. With uncertainty hounding the Games’ fate, everything’s practically kaput.
Sigh.