- The Tokyo 2020 Olympics is different. Starting from last year’s historic postponement, it overturned the athletes’ long-term plans.
- Behind the cheers, there was a faint sense of crisis of a sharp rise in virus cases during the Olympics.
- This issue may affect the political future of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
After Tokyo ended an Olympic Games that sometimes seemed impossible and ended up with mixed responses, it woke up on Monday to find huge bills and a surge in coronavirus cases.
It is foreseeable that Olympic officials have always been optimistic, saying that the Olympic Games provide hope and exciting moments and will end without any major coronavirus outbreak.
Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, said at the closing press conference: “These Olympics strongly demonstrate the unifying power of sports.”
However, with the surge in virus cases in Tokyo and elsewhere, Japan will need longer time to consider this highly controversial and unfolding Olympics.
Despite being a sponsor of the Olympics, the Asahi Shimbun Daily News, which still requested cancellation, said that the nearly $15 billion event was a “gambling” on people’s lives.
“This gamble continues to make the situation worse,” it said on Monday.
A poll conducted by the newspaper in the last two days of the Olympic Games found that 56% of Japanese people supported hosting the event and 32% opposed it. Only 32% said they thought the Olympics were “safe and reliable”, and 54% did not believe it.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics is different. Starting from last year’s historic postponement, it overturned the athletes’ long-term plans.
The restrictions of the Olympic Games itself meant that everyone wears masks and does not cheer for anyone. For the first time, fans are prohibited from entering almost all venues.
Nevertheless, with the opening of the Olympics, there are signs that the Japanese public may change their minds.
Thousands of people flocked to the Olympic Stadium to see the opening ceremony fireworks and have the opportunity to take a group photo in front of the Olympic rings.
When the sport started, people ignored requests to stay away from events held on public roads and snapped up Olympic merchandise in stores across Japan.
“If you see these athletes running in front of you, you can’t help but cheer for them,” Hiroshi Tadada told AFP on the triathlon route passing by his house.
Paying tribute to the athletes was a key theme of the Japanese editorial on Monday, and the “Yomiuri Shimbun” “praised all their hard work in the competition.”
People have always worried about what the pandemic and postponement means for the sports of the Olympics.
However, despite some impressive disappointments, the performance is still impressive, breaking world records, and successfully launching a number of new sports including skateboarding and surfing.
The coronavirus cast a long shadow over the Olympics from the very beginning, and some athletes’ Olympic dreams were crushed by PCR test results.
Most people are just happy that the Olympics continue.
Australian football player Alana Kennedy wrote on Twitter: “In the middle of the pandemic, they successfully hosted a wonderful Olympics. Always smile and greet us with such kindness. Thank you.”
“The Olympics were held under the most challenging circumstances imaginable, and the organizers performed well,” added Hugh Robertson, president of the British Olympic Association.
The Olympics was also a victory for Japanese sports, with a record 27 gold medals in various sports from baseball to skateboarding.
Japanese Olympic officials said they believe the gold rush has boosted public support for the Olympics, pointing to families who took their children outside the venue to cheer or hang flags on the windows.
But behind the cheers, there was a vague sense of crisis of a sharp rise in virus cases during the Olympics.
Tokyo and many other parts of the country are in a state of viral emergency, and because the Delta variant fuels a surge in infections, only about one-third of the country is fully vaccinated.
This issue may affect the political future of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga as he faces a leadership contest and then the October general election.
For some, however, the highlights of the sporting event have swept away people’s concerns about the pandemic.
“I am really worried,” 21-year-old university student Reita Goto told AFP.
“But in the end, the Olympics not only illuminates Japan, but also illuminates the world.”
