Japanese sporting world welcomes having fans at Tokyo Olympics

Ganbare athletes!

Gotta sell that merch

Ha! The "sporting world."

In other words, a bunch of out-of-touch, privileged, selfish individuals who got to skip the front of the vaccination line and have no way (or desire) to relate to the everyday folks who are suffering through the economic and emotional hardships of this horrible pandemic.

Full vaccination should be mandatory for admission.

The organizing bodies, however, also agreed to consider the possibility of holding the Olympics without spectators should the infection situation worsen before or after the start on July 23.

They have so far shown no specific and numerical criteria.

If nobody goes to the events, and the stadiums keep empty, that would be the best proof for the government and the IOC that the japanese people are against the Olympics.

But if the stadiums are packed with 10000 spectators, that would proof that the japanese people support the Olympics and that all surveys and polls which showed different were only nonsens.

So lets wait and see how it will goes.

I'm happy just to have the games going ahead and the spectators watching us, so I'm thankful to have the support even with the 50-percent cap

really have to question the motivation of these athletes, do they not get enough validation from their family? They need 10,000 people to watch them, to have a sense of personal worth? Just politicians with no party. But really fit.

@Monty

Ridiculous affirmation. 10,000 people is 0.1 % of the population. There has always been at least 20% Japanese supporting the Games. They will easily fill the 10,000 spectators' cap but that won't mean the population, of the majority of it, is supportive.

I bet they do. Japanese fans cheering and supporting which country again?

if the stadiums are packed with 10000 spectators, that would proof that the japanese people support the Olympics

Just because there are 10000 privileged selfish idiots going, doesn’t mean the rest or the millions are, yea?

So, today You think @Monty 7:22am, 10,000 local fans with basically ‘free’, corporate-sponsor & gifted tickets are a reflection of overall ‘public sentiment’?

“if the stadiums are packed with 10000 spectators, that would proof that the Japanese people support the Olympics and that all surveys and polls which showed different were only nonsensE.” -

Just yesterday, you discounted the 86% opposition from survey of 200O people ****was not any adequate reflection of the entire nation of Japan.

“Nationwide 2,000 people??? Among 124,000,000??? And they judge 86% percent of people in Japan by just calling 2,000 people?”

Most spectators with be press ganged company employees and school children, “comfort crowd” it’s just the way it is.

So now the JIOC has gotten the athletes to sign on to the idea of creating a potential Olympic sized "super-spreader" event! Hell they all have been vaccinated so why should they care!

So the "sporting world" is happy the opinion of the people is ignored once again? at least they openly recognize it instead of pretending it is all for the good of the citizens.

The organizing bodies, however, also agreed to consider the possibility of holding the Olympics without spectators should the infection situation worsen before or after the start on July 23.

That would be meaningful in a country with proper, constant, easy to get testing and tracing of cases, in Japan it could also means they will instruct people to go easy on the tests if the situation appears to worsen at a bad timing.

“Nationwide 2,000 people??? Among 124,000,000??? And they judge 86% percent of people in Japan by just calling 2,000 people?”

Yup. Why should it be any different for any survey here? It's always a "sampling" of between 1,000 to 2,000 people and there is never any information on just who or how the respondents were contacted.

Yet, far too many take it as the gospel truth.

follow science

.and what does science tells us?

Even small event is a “risk” how much more a 10000 crowd be?

Agreed, @Yubaru 7:50am. The surveys here are often ‘limited in scope’ - Was more puzzled by those persons now ‘straddling the line’,

- @7:22am: “So lets wait and see how it will goes.” -

… when just 2 weeks ago, they were vehemently opposed to any IOCLDPJOC policies, measures and any furtherance of the Games.

Ganbare athletes!

Nope. They are NOT a priority.

Good luck Japanese public. They have had this rubbish pushed on them against their will, in the middle of a worldwide pandemic.

No cheering allowed. No yelling encouragement. No benefit whatsoever to Japan, only liability.

Worst games since 1936.

#shameThe10000

saw this somewhere. A little against it as I’m not aware of their situation, but I guess THEY should be aware of the bigger situation we are in, right?

Wow, this is a bad idea.

Would be interesting if some "real" journalists dig deeper and get a scoop as to how many brown envelopes and coercion was done by IOC/TOC/JOC against these athletes named above for them to come out publicly with these statements to support the decision to allow 10,000 spectators...

This goes to show me that we cannot trust people in power not matter which country it is.

Will they also welcome the spread of the coronavirus due to these Games and the consequential increased loss of life?

@Pim

Yesterday people here said according to another article, that if you just do a phone call to 2000 people among a population of 124.000.000 is enough to evaluate the positive or negative opinion of the whole population.

Why does it count yesterday and not today?

Fighto!

Worst games since 1936.

What about St Louis, 1904? But you're right, this one is going to go down in infamy.

A handful of selfish Olympic athletes is not the "sporting world". I suspect some "pocket lining" is taking place.

The title of this article should really be "The coronavirus and Japanese sporting world welcomes having fans at Tokyo Olympics" lol

All kidding aside, this is going to be a super spreader event. Good luck with that Tokyo, don't say we didn't warn you.

The giant Japanese sports day. Awful.

Also, what kind of people actually want to go and sit in this crowd?

I can imagine them and their monotonous Instagram posts after attending the events.

Too much thought required to be a crowed member

Go to the Womens weightlifting and see a man who thinks he is a woman compete, or go to the Womens Soccer and see a woman who thinks she is a man play

My brain already hurts

@Monty

Have you heard about the concept of opinion poll and representative or random sample of a larger group? I assume not, considering your comment. So I'm going to take a minute of my time to explain the obvious.

The 2,000 people surveyed are either totally randomly chosen or randomly chosen into certain groups according to criteria like age, region, etc. This selection does not have, in theory, any embedded bias in regards to the the question asked, in that case "are you in favor of holding the Games this year"?

Actually, as most Japanese media sponsor the Games, it is clear that, it they actually play on the sampled population or on the phrasing of the questions, that will be in favor of the "support the Games this year" reply.

Now, your 10,000 sample is obviously in favor of holding the Games so it is not a random or neutral sample of the population. If you do a poll on this population, 100% will say they support the Games, won't they? Is is just one the most biased sample you can get.

You can try to justify your point of view in any weird way you like, it just doesn't stick. I think you are a supporter of the Games, fine with that,

The Olympic family - IOC members, officials, delegates, VIPs, sponsors etc., are not included in this 10,000. That means that for some events, more than 20,000 could be in attendance, though from past experience, many of these people do not even bother to attend and stay in their hospitality suites, bars, restaurants and hotels, leaving swathes of empty seats in the prime positions.

End of my post:

You can try to justify your point of view in any weird way you like, it just doesn't stick. I think you are a supporter of the Games, fine with that, but please don't try to twist the reality of things to support your personal opinion.

But Japanese doctors don't... who do you think is better to trust?

I haven't followed the Women's team since Homare was the captain. Is Yokoyama an important member of the team?

Are they going to FORCE the fans to cheer like the do in North Korea?

If you had followed my posts during the last weeks, you would understand that I am not a supporter of the games.

But that is not the point here.

The point is, if each event of the games is packed with 10,000 spectators, most probably 80% are different spectators,because they probably have just one ticket...

Each event..., I don't know how many events are at the Olympics, but I guess there are many...

What does this say to you?

What does it say to you if each event are packed with 10.000 spectators?

That says to me that many many people here in Japan support the games.

But that is not what you want to hear or see, right?

Me too. I don't want to see 10,000 spectators at the events. I want to see not only 1.

Therefore I said, let us see in reality how many spectators will really join.

The IOC was planning this switch to having fans for a LONG time now, yet they pretended to say there may not be any, straight up liars, & yeah what could go wrong, PLENTY!

Also watch the IOC bolt & abandon Japan right after the end of this nasty, vile, event......

Move on and get over it!

Can't wait for the Games to start to show what an absolute overkill this corona virus World response has been.

Vaccinate those at high risk and get back to normal!

But it's still too dangerous to have live (outdoor) viewing events or even for two people to sit side-by-side at a bar or a Starbucks. Uhm, ok.

As long as spectators are vaccinated, there should be no limit to attendance, including foreigners, and no draconian limits on free speech such as the right to cheer.

Japan is displaying all the worst traits possible, totalitarian paranoia, xenophobia and bureaucratic bungling.

Let the games begin? For the past year there have been nothing but games!

@monty

I see. Sorry I miss your previous posts and then your main point.

However, if 10,000 people show at each event, I think that it is still not inconsistent with only a minority of the population supporting the event.

I believe the "80 against / 20 for" proportion was correct a few weeks ago. It's probably more around 70/30 today. Might be 50/50 later or even reversed proportions. That'll be interesting to observe.

If the readers' comments and upvotes/downvotes ratios on Yahoo News Japan are anything to go by, there is still a massive opposition to the 2021 Games.

I would have liked to have polls on Tokyo citizens only, actually.

And at least 1936 saw one of the greatest individual performances in the history of the games.

Yeah and one of the worst things to happen as well, that directly is related to Japan as well. Look up who won the men's marathon and where they were from!

If I am not wrong, tickets were sold last year, and spectators have already it. Only a few tickets will be on sale this year. The one who have already the tickets do not want to lose the opportunity so will make use of it.

It can not be translated into supporting the Olympics or not.

As for the athletes and sport world, it is normal they wanna see supporters. Nothing wrong with that.

I do not support those Olympics this year, but I do not understand all this systematic bashing for this article. Imagine you are an athlete, what would you do ? boycott ? certainly not

snowymountainhellToday  07:40 am JST

So, today You think @Monty 7:22am, 10,000 local fans with basically ‘free’, corporate-sponsor & gifted tickets are a reflection of overall ‘public sentiment’?

Whatever gave you the impression that the 10,000 local fans would have free, corporate sponsored, or gifted tickets? Didn't those fans pay for their tickets after securing them in a very competitive public lottery?

didouToday  10:47 am JST

If I am not wrong, tickets were sold last year, and spectators have already it. Only a few tickets will be on sale this year. The one who have already the tickets do not want to lose the opportunity so will make use of it.

It can not be translated into supporting the Olympics or not.

4.48 million tickets were sold within Japan. 810,000 requested refunds in the midst of the pandemic. We can thus assume that 82% of ticket holders desire to attend the Games.

Of course, the opinion of ticket holders does not reflect the opinion of the general public. But the data tells us what the ticket holders are thinking. They clearly want to attend.

Will anyone even be watching?

The games are just proof positive that all Governments, even Japan, say one thing to their people and then turn around and do the opposite whenever and wherever it pleases them to do so. From now on Japanese people will be indoctrinated into accepting these games, the sponsors of it have already started the push. This article kind of makes it clear who partially supports these games, and it's got nothing to do with the people.

The games are just proof positive that all Governments, even Japan, say one thing to their people and then turn around and do the opposite whenever and wherever it pleases them to do so

All good then. The govt have been saying all this time that the games will push thru no matter what

Lets Olympics! Ganbare Nippon!

"the Japanese sporting world"...well ok yeah if no one comes to see them in person, they dont really need to exist. So I can see why these fully vaccinated athletes would want that. Otherwise its just an overpriced "undokai" that happens to be on TV too.

Paid advertisement?

Yes @CarlSmith 12:28pm -

ALL paid, courtesy of the taxpaying, hard-working citizens & foreign residents of Japan!

10,000 is 0.01% of one percent of the population. That's one-one hundredth of one percent. Hardly a means of determining acceptance of what will be dubbed: The Covid Olympics.

It will be historical and epic. Forever in the history books as a failure of domestic political leadership. A purposeful ignorance of medical science, let alone virology & immunology. Against all advice from genuine experts, a sporting spectacle of no genuine import is held during a worldwide epidemic, literally inviting several hundred thousand individuals from across the globe into confined areas and to compound the folly allowing spectators to view the event.

I know, that there are Japanese athletes aware of the danger to the public and being mindful, those athletes have expressed opposition to the games because it imperils the citizenry. Such is in personal conversation and their team-mates share that opposition to the games.

As for "the Japanese Sporting World" - difficult to embrace a point of view and opining by a handful of athletes who will glory in any accolade afforded their sport. Let alone a J-league official, who should no better.

One might look to the SheBelieves Cup, 2109, held in Florida during an influenza outbreak. Nadeshiko, during each round reduced their numbers as team members became ill, in spite of any and all precautions. The captain had to be replace three times, as each became ill. Almost half the team was stricken with the flu. A fact not mentioned during the event and which made it near impossible to win the tournament.

Holding the Olympic is ridiculous and dangerous - allowing spectators compounds the folly. Such being endorsed by the Sporting World is of no consequence, except to add to the lunacy.

I’m looking forward to the group dancing at the opening ceremony event, couple of samurai references and a innocent youth being guided into a factions enemy, perhaps a sumo or two. Need an audience for that?

10,000 spectators or 50% capacity, which ever is less. It seems strange that a hypothetical 20,000 seat, indoor venue would therefore have 10,000 spectators which is 50% capacity, while the main outdoor stadium, holding roughly 70,000 people, will have 10,000 people which is 14% capacity.

Why anyone would want to have an Olympics under these circumstances is beyond me.

Oh, yeah. It's about the money.

qazwsxToday  01:30 pm JST

10,000 spectators or 50% capacity, which ever is less. It seems strange that a hypothetical 20,000 seat, indoor venue would therefore have 10,000 spectators which is 50% capacity, while the main outdoor stadium, holding roughly 70,000 people, will have 10,000 people which is 14% capacity.

Agree. But for the spacious outdoor venues, we need to consider the arrival and departure conditions (i.e., large event crowds flooding through nearby train stations).

Yet, @BokuDayo 2:10pm, a promising career with IOCJOC awaits those with patience . . .

“Why anyone would want to have an Olympics under these circumstances is beyond me… It's about the money.

(For example: @7:22am:)

“If nobody goes to the events, and the stadiums keep empty, …the Japanese people are against the Olympics; …if the stadiums are packed with 10000 spectators, that would proof that the Japanese people support the Olympics and that all surveys and polls which showed different were only nonsensE.. 

. . . more than foresight:

@7:22am: “So lets wait and see how it will goes.”

How about that. We learn something new every day!

I too did not know until recently, and it is a black eye on the history of the Olympics that few seem to know about. Japan SHOULD do something to recognize this, this time. It would go a long way to helping ease tensions with it's neighbors, and if anything a great goodwill gesture.

But I wont hold my breathe!