SportsTokyo Olympics: Matters Arising In A State Of Emergency

Tokyo Olympics: Matters Arising In A State Of Emergency

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July 10, (THEWILL) – In the face of an unyielding rise of coronavirus infections by the week, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency in Tokyo that will take effect on Monday, which is 11 days before the Games open, and will end on August 22, two days before the start of the Paralympics Games.

As THEWILL reported, Suga considered the declaration essential to prevent Tokyo from becoming the source of another wave of infection as he said: “Taking into consideration the impact of the delta strain, and in order to prevent the resurgence of infections from spreading across the country, we need to step up virus prevention measures.”

The state of emergency declaration led organisers of the Summer Olympics to ban spectators from the Games in Tokyo based on decisions reached in talks between the government, organisers and Olympic and Paralympic representatives.

Glo

While having virtually no one allowed into the games was met with frustration by resident ticket holders, who had looked forward to cheering the athletes as they competed for honours, a sizeable portion of the Japanese population greeted the decision with relief. A good number of Japanese citizens have been protesting against hosting the Games in the middle of a pandemic for months.

Even though the government has shown a stubborn streak to make sure the Games go on as scheduled after the year-long and immensely costly postponement forced upon Japan by the pandemic, a national survey conducted in May found that 83% of voters in Japan wanted it postponed or cancelled.

This far into the hosting plans and organisation, it is unrealistic to expect the government to even contemplate a cancellation. Economists at Kansai University estimated Japan is calculated to lose more than $40 billion if the Olympics are canceled entirely. In the COVID-stricken financial economy of the current times, this is not an option.

The havoc COVID-19 wreaked on the Toyko 2020 Olympic Games is still plaguing the organisation. A myriad cascade of delays, mushrooming costs, health concerns and other corollary issues problems have beset the organisers that it is by sheer force of will, the desire to have it over and done with and the athletes that have invested time, guts and money to prepare that are keeping the Games from completely collapsing.

Initially, the overall official cost of the games stood at about $15.4 billion and organisers were sticking to that budget before the pandemic interrupted the schedule. Now, a government audit conducted last December estimated the organising cost based on expenditure due to the postponement to be closer to $28 billion and counting.

Some of this cost could have been offset by ticket sales to spectators and crowds coming in from all over the world as roughly 7.8 million tickets were expected to be made available for the games, which would have brought in an estimated $800 million in revenue for Japan.

But as THEWILL reported, foreign fans were banned from the Games for the prevention of cross migration of the coronavirus, especially with the highly infectious Delta COVID-19 variant spreading across borders and also keeping Japan slow vaccine rollout in mind. The expectation was that local spectators will be allowed to attend in socially-distanced numbers.

However, even that is no longer the case for events venues in Tokyo. Tamayo Marukawa, the Olympic minister, confirmed this but noted that it applied strictly to the city of Tokyo which implies the possibility that some venues outside of Tokyo may be allowed to accept some fans, a window that was left open for ticket holders, at the moment.

It leaves the Games at the risk of suffering from decreased interest with the implications that could have on revenue, athlete underperformance and dropped television value. The consequences of these are wide-ranging for the organisers and sponsors seeking to recoup from the investments they have made to bring the Games to life.

Most professional sports have been coming back to a sense of pre-COVID times and gradually bringing back the packed stands that were a feature that was taken for granted before the shutdown of last year. Recently, big events of the year in football, basketball, golf and even tennis have seen fans return to cheer their favourites to victory.

The energy from the crowd often acts like a virus of its own. It infects the competitors in the sport, who soak it up to fire themselves to go for glory. It also stretches beyond the stands and the arena to the fans at home, or elsewhere, following the game via the television or online.

This is what will be sorely lacking in the absence of both international and local crowds at the Summer Games following the state of emergency declaration. It could mentally and physically impact the athletes and be of decreased interest for sports enthusiasts globally.

The effect of all these will translate to a drop in television ratings for advertisers as well. With the dissipation of interests, they will not be getting their money’s worth in terms of the viewership they targeted and paid huge sums for

Already, there have been billions of dollars involved in the planning and exchanged between the Japanese government, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), its sponsors, media networks, and others. Of the $25 billion already spent my Japan, 80% have come directly from the country’s taxpayers.

As about 11,000 athletes expected for the low-key tournament descend on the Olympic village ahead of the commencement of the Summer Games, the government plans to also meet them with strict rules around social contact to contain any eventualities. Vaccinations are not mandatory, but they will be tested frequently.

Already, some athletes were not among the 11,000 such as the Nigerian 4x400m Relay Team. Technical errors identified in their qualification race forced World Athletics (WA) to disqualify the quartet of Nse Imaobong, Favour Ofili, Knowledge Omovoh, and Patience Okon-George, who ran a Season’s Best 3:26.83 at their qualifier event, that saw them climb from 18th to 13th on the WA Top List.

Elsewhere, US sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, a gold medal favourite tested positive for a substance found in marijuana and is serving a ban that precluded her from Team USA for the Games. South African runner Caster Semenya was also among several women whose elevated testosterone levels knocked them out of contention in Tokyo.

A small band of tennis players also miss out including American tennis icon Serena Williams, who had made up her mind not to attend before prematurely exiting Wimbledon due to injury. Rafael Nadal ruled himself out to recuperate after a strenuous clay court season and Nick Kyrgios announced his withdrawal from the games on Thursday via Twitter, citing the lack of fans and a leg injury.

Naomi Osaka will however be competing at her home Olympics for the first time. It will be her first appearance in competitive tennis since the circumstances surrounding her mental health problems and the mandatory press conferences that made her exit Roland Garros and take time off the game.

About the Author

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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

Jude Obafemi, THEWILLhttps://thewillnews.com
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

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