tokyo 2020 olympics

IOC to start 4 weeks of discussions on Tokyo Olympics

41 Comments
By Karolos Grohmann

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41 Comments
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Its not a possible postponement, it's going to be postponed. I think 99.99% of people would agree.

28 ( +28 / -0 )

Japan should be praying for postponement. How could you expect anybody to travel to Asia to watch meaningless sports right now? Dealing with the airlines would be 3 times the hell it normally is and most athletes won't come anyway.

27 ( +27 / -0 )

Wow. The flip-flop from no postponement to discussions about a postponement was swift.

14 ( +15 / -1 )

The IOC reps who already got their pay-offs probably feel a lot of guilt to Japan so they’re dragging it out as long as possible.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Of course all the past talk about them not even thinking about the possibility of cancelling or postponing the games was just bluster and bravado. How could they not be thinking about this in the light of the events of the last few weeks? It would be very difficult to hold the games if no athletes and spectators could get there!

12 ( +12 / -0 )

Postpone for 2 years to allow enough time for a vaccine to be developed and administered to 7 billion people.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

@JonathanJo

The virus might be over before the vaccine, which will become useless

-9 ( +0 / -9 )

It’s settled;the virus has decided...

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Tokyo 2024

10 ( +11 / -1 )

Good!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Simple.. postpone it one year, start the build up, and it'll go down as being one of the greatest games ever. Hold it in 16 weeks and it'll go down in history as most likely one of the worst.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

@Kobe White Bar Owner

That's always been my take on it too. The prudent thing to do is to move Tokyo to 2024, Paris to 2028, and LA to 2028. There are precedents for this.

The way things are going, a vaccine will be at least 18 months away (if one ever comes). This crisis is not going away any time soon. Economically and logistically if will be impossible to hold any major world sports event (or any other international event, for that matter) over the next several years.

Consider that we are only at the start of this crisis and already the world is in total disarray, with businesses going under one after another, international travel halted to most countries now, and airlines going bust one by one. An increasing number of economists are saying this is going to be the worst downturn since the Great Depression.

The IOC a bunch of thugs with no respect for the safety of the athletes or fans, or even an understanding of the seriousness of the situation. They should he disbanded immediately.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

The longer they delay the postponement the more the IOC looks like the incompetant bureaucrats they are.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

This is not complicated. COVID-19 continues to be a growing threat for the entire world. The Olympics need to be postponed so we can focus 100% of the world’s attention to solving this problem.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Even Abe & co. know it's inevitable at this point, so one would hope a) they'll douse that flame to avoid anymore crowds from forming and b) redouble their efforts to take a global pandemic seriously. Won't hold my breath, but a fella can dream.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Japan still has a clout to muster athletes from a couple dozen countries. The Olympics must be held as planned. That's the only way to salvage some investment out of this train wreck. Or we lose it all. The Olympics must go on as planned!

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

Simple.. postpone it one year

I suspect any postponement will have to be at least 2 years, if not 4. One year doesn't seem like enough time to create a new games plan. The venues, transport, security, catering, accommodation, volunteers etc will all have to be reconfirmed and rescheduled. New contracts will have to be drawn up and approved for everything. Apart from venue construction, it will basically be like planning an entirely new Olympics from scratch.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The way things are going, a vaccine will be at least 18 months away (if one ever comes)

Please cite medical sources which doubt that a vaccine will never become available.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Never - ever

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The IPC, whose Tokyo Paralympics are set for Aug 25 to Sept 6, said the IOC took the right decision under the circumstances.

Nope, the IOC was forced to take the right decision. Where is Koike to tell us about the unthinkable.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

One FED member just spoke about a 50 percent decline of GDP and possibly 30 percent unemployment. You think people will come and enjoy the Olympics with such numbers? Besides all those countries who are in dire situation and lost thousands of their citizens will forget in a month and start partying? Dream on!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Canada just announced they won't send a team to the Tokyo Olympics unless it's postponed for at least a year!!!!

11 ( +11 / -0 )

@runner3 I think Canada pulled the pin because all of the qualifying events have been postponed or cancelled so they would not have had anyone to send.

-8 ( +0 / -8 )

Canada has a big team with many qualified already. Canada just took a stand saying we aren't sending a team to Tokyo until it's safe.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Not possible postponement...it should and definitely be postponed...common sense!!!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Just saw the Canada news as well. THANK YOU.

Now maybe Japan can give up on keeping the numbers artificially low and focus on keeping the infection and death rates low!

4 ( +5 / -1 )

I'm very proud to be Canadian today.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

The Canadian government is cavalier and rather thick. Japan is an important trading partner for Canada. Japan will remember Canada as the country that killed Tokyo 2020. If Canada had smart strategic leadership it would have done this with a consort of other countries or waited until another country had gone first.

-10 ( +0 / -10 )

Good, let’s hope the US and other countries follow the sensible actions of Canada and put these games to a halt!

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Canceling instead of dragging their feet on what people already want, Closure would perhaps resign the masses to the seriousness of the situation, then help to make it a bottom up effort.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The Canadian government is cavalier and rather thick. Japan is an important trading partner for Canada. Japan will remember Canada as the country that killed Tokyo 2020. If Canada had smart strategic leadership it would have done this with a consort of other countries or waited until another country had gone first.

They can do that, but then they would be cutting their own throats and I don’t think Japan has the will to go through any form of retaliatory attacks on them, that would really reflect poorly on the Japanese.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

This is now the dominant news in Japan, with articles and news stories exponentially shifting from denial to acceptance that they will be postponed. By April the government will likely do a 180 and agree to postponement, because they have no choice. And the longer they wait, the less they can play victim when they do.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I think it's inevitable that the 2020 games are off. Whether completely cancelled or postponed for a year or two or four is something that will be worked out later. First the virus, then global economic collapse... there will be little interest in the Olympics with so many struggling to survive. Political upheavals and wars are also likely. A grim few years ahead - and I hope it's only a few years.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

proxy: See? What did I tell you? Didn’t take long for people to start blaming everyone else. Yeah, Canada will have “killed the Games”, not the virus.. not people being sensible and safe. You’re already crying foul and playing victim!

4 ( +5 / -1 )

@smithinjapan Canada is smart to pull out but really really stupid to have done this alone and to be first.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

This is also a golden opportunity to move them to a more sensible time of the year, such as October/November or March/April.

The corrupt IOC may have chosen July/August so as to maximize the money they could get from television broadcasters who want to avoid the busy US and European sports seasons, but now that the spotlight is deservedly on the athletes' health, it should be clear that August is no time to be holding these contests and assembling these crowds in a place like Tokyo. Japan should have chosen a different location, too: Sendai would have been a great choice and could certainly use the economic boost.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Doesn't take four weeks to say "No".

proxy: "@smithinjapan Canada is smart to pull out but really really stupid to have done this alone and to be first."

Not really. Someone has to, and evidently Canada is the only one with the real courage at the moment. Japan blaming Canada (as you are) and planning on revenge would be foolhardy, not to mention misdirected. On the other hand, it's countries that are dilly-dallying on the issue and stepping around it, insisting on waiting, that are part of the problem and part of the spread. It's not much different than the actions of countries against the virus itself -- "Why didn't we act sooner when we knew what was coming?" is a common refrain from nations like China and in particular from Italy and the US. Japan is a beacon of what NOT to do on this issue, particularly given their warnings about crowded places but insistence on commuting to work and the determination to hold the world's biggest sporting event in packed places, with many of those sports having direct physical contact among athletes from around the world.

Someone needed to go first. Whomever chose to is admirable. In this case, Canada. Again, if Japan later chooses to blame Canada for it, they will look even more foolish and petty than they do desperately clinging to the Games already.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

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