How About Some Positivity?

Like it or not, the Tokyo Olympics are just over two months away.  It's going to happen, as much as some people may not want it to.  So, all of the doubters need to stop waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Because it's not going to!  So, maybe it's time to accept that fact, stop being Negative Nancys about the whole thing, and focus on how these Olympics can succeed instead of why (you think) they shouldn't even be held at all.

And, please, stop suggesting that they should be postponed again!  How many times do the IOC and Japanese government need to say that before people finally get it?!  (And I'm not just talking about random people, either, these are people who cover the Olympics for a living that are saying this!)  Do you know how many hoops they had to jump through to make a one-year postponement work?!  And how much additional money it's costing them, as well as all of the international federations?!  They can't do it again, either logistically or financially, so stop acting like they can! 

If, for whatever reason, the IOC determines the Olympics can't be held this year, they will be cancelled and the next Olympics will be the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.  While I'm at it, stop suggesting countries should boycott Beijing, too!  As the 1980s showed us, Olympic boycotts accomplish NOTHING other than making some activists happy and depriving the athletes of their opportunity that may only come once.

They keep citing the negative reception to the Games in Japan as their reason for wanting the Olympics to be cancelled.  However, I always take the "results" of polls like that with a grain of salt.  Because they're all biased.  The conductor of the poll always has a clear opinion and doesn't publicize results that go against what they want.  It's also not at all unexpected.  Under normal circumstances, public opinion towards the Olympics in the host country dips in the weeks and months leading up to the Games before enthusiasm grows as they get closer.

I'm not going to dismiss the concerns that Japanese citizens have mentioned as reasons for their opposition.  The vaccine rollout in Japan hasn't been great and they're concerned about an influx of 15,000 athletes, coaches, staff and media members from around the world creating a surge.  Especially with Tokyo and Sapporo (which will host the marathons) currently under a state of emergency, they're questioning the wisdom of that and hoping the Olympics don't turn into a superspreader event.

Likewise, there are some who've said the money would be better spent combating the virus than preparing for the Olympics (I assume they're talking about the additional funds necessary for COVID testing, since a lot of the Olympic budget has already been allocated and spent).  I'm not sure that logic entirely makes sense, though, since the postponement is part of what has made the costs skyrocket, and if the Olympics are cancelled, they'll have spent nearly a decade and all that money with nothing to show for it.

Both of those concerns are legitimate.  However, the IOC has been diligent in making sure the Olympics can take place safely.  They've already banned foreign spectators and if Japanese spectators are allowed, it'll probably be at a reduced capacity.  (Which, by the way, doesn't help the money situation, since they won't recoup any of their expenses through ticket sales.)  Worst case scenario, they hold them behind closed doors, which they've been doing at all of the Olympic test events.

The Olympic test events have been overwhelmingly successful, a sign that the IOC's playbooks and COVID protocols work.  At the Diving World Cup, there was only one positive test...of a staff member who was immediately quarantined.  At the track & field test event (which had only a handful of foreign athletes), there were no positives.  Those events are obviously nowhere near the size and scope of the Olympics themselves, but the bubble environment that they used seemed to do its job.

This will be a vastly different Olympics than anyone has experienced before.  The athletes won't get to go out and explore the city.  A lot of them won't even be able to attend the Opening or Closing Ceremonies.  They'll fly in, compete, and fly out almost immediately afterwards.  And when they do compete, it won't be in front of a stadium full of flag-waving fans.  It'll be empty and quiet.

That's all in addition to the COVID protocols they'll have to go through while in Tokyo (which will start before they're even allowed to get on a plane).  They'll go from the village to the venue and back.  That's it.  But that's a trade-off they're all willing to make.

As the Olympic test events, as well as other sporting events all over the world, have proved, it's possible to do things safely during a pandemic.  And the public health concerns of the Japanese citizens, while not unfounded, are probably more about panic than anything else.  The IOC will essentially be creating an Olympic bubble, so they won't be exposed to people from other countries.  That'll especially be true if the Games are conducted without fans.

It's also worth noting that a lot of Olympians are either already vaccinated or will be before the Games start.  The IOC won't require vaccinations and the protocols will apply to everyone regardless of vaccination status.  But the point remains.  A lot of those foreigners who'll be entering Japan for the Olympics will be vaccinated (some countries are prioritizing their Olympians for that purpose), so the Japanese people will be protected, even if they aren't vaccinated themselves.

In a perfect world, everybody traveling to Japan for the Olympics will be vaccinated (well, in a really perfect world, COVID wouldn't have disrupted all of our lives for more than a year!).  That, unfortunately, won't be the case.  The virus is still ravaging Brazil and India, countries with two of the six largest populations on Earth, and larger, more affluent nations have more access to vaccines than smaller, poorer nations.  But, the IOC is also doing its part to help in the vaccination effort by purchasing doses and promising to provide two for somebody else for every one an Olympian receives.

Public health experts are in agreement about what most of us already suspected.  The vaccines work and don't just protect you.  They protect those around you, too.  That's why the IOC is pushing vaccines so hard.  Because they believe that with a combination of vaccines, strict protocols and a bubble environment, the Olympics can take place and can take place safely, even if they have to be a made-for-TV event.

A lot of criticism has been directed towards the IOC for its determination to hold the Olympics at all costs, which some have called tone-deaf.  They're aware of the feelings of the Japanese people, but that shouldn't be the only factor in determining whether the Tokyo Olympics take place or not.  And, as they've said numerous times over the past year, they're in the business of putting on Olympic Games.  Which is what they're trying to do!

So, can you blame the IOC for doing everything it can to make sure the Olympics happen?  Which they will.  There's no reason to think they won't.  The sooner everyone realizes that, the better.