The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, which has been postponed last year, have begun despite a lots of questions and obscurity…
The Olympic Games are undoubtedly the one of the biggest stages in the entire sports era. This year, the Olympic will feature more than 11 thousand athletes from 33 sports. On the other hand, this edition comes with discussions and disappointments more than excitement.
Firstly up, Tokyo 2020 has been postponed due to Covid-19. Besides, greatest international sport organizations could not be organized: Euro 2020, which ended in the past weeks, was share the same the fate with the Olympic games in Tokyo. As a result of this situation, many athletes’ plans, who prepared themselves for the summit in 2020, were interrupted, on the other hand the sponsors lost, and the organizations were under enormous pressure. Despite many shortcomings, games without spectators, and question marks, we will follow the Olympic games in Tokyo for upcoming two and half week.
For about a year, there has been discussions about whether the Tokyo Olympic Games will be held with spectators or not. We have prepared ourselves for an equation in which only certain number of spectators from the host country take their place in the stands and spectators from other countries are banned. Indeed, many athletes consider this situation as “better than nothing at all”. However, things didn’t work out as they calculate and days before Tokyo 2020, the information came that the games will be held without spectators. Depending on COVID-19 situation in Japan, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga explained this decision in a statement:
“It will be unusual to organize games under these conditions and extra measures. However, we try to prove through Tokyo that humanity can overcome any challenge by working hard and acting smart.”
While some competitions held outside of Tokyo will still be able to host around 50 percent spectators, the most popular sports can only be followed through broadcasts. The situation is extremely sad for branches such as athletics, swimming, gymnastics, volleyball, and basketball, which fill stands. That is why, the organization is looking for ways to enliven the empty stands by making the technological atmosphere moves we get used to see the past one and a half year. For instance, with some digital broadcasters, spectators will be able to send applause to athletes remotely. Besides, some privileged spectators will find a place for themselves in the stands with video footage. The organization will use piped-in crowd noise to make television broadcasts more exciting. Meanwhile, Japan has been already under a serious financial burden, therefore this situation is also worrying for the country that will lose the ticket revenue, which is planned to be over $ 800 million.
Moreover, the concern factors are not limited to the ones I just mentioned. According to the survey conducted by Asahi Shimbun, one of the country’s famous newspapers, a total of 83 percent of the people of Japan against holding the Olympics during the pandemic in Tokyo. Even some of the Japanese, who think that the epidemic process is not well managed, have already thrown out the streets for anti-Olympic demonstrations. Many people have in common thought that it is not wise to host thousands of international athletes while the people of the country have not fully recovered from the difficulties caused by COVID-19. The International Olympic Committee, which gave the green light to the games in order not to experience further financial losses, and the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, which could not take the stance expected by the public against them, got reactions.
Now many of us are curious about the Tokyo Olympics, because since the WWII the first time its schedule has changed, and it has created so much controversy since the famous 1980 Moscow games, which was boycotted by the USA. So, we will juct have to wait and see…
