hailstorm

Do we even know what the means yet? Do we know that vaccination in January would still be valid in July?

jib71

I don't think that this is knowable today. The definitive answer will emerge from monitoring the immune systems of vaccinated people over time. The CEO of BioNTech said "I could imagine we could be safe for at least a year,” with his company's vaccine. I don't know if that's just a guess or if it's an informed estimate from monitoring the few dozen Phase 1 and Phase 2 trial participants who received their first doses earlier this year.

As rustykettel points out, the statement that vaccination won't be mandatory for athletes is notable for what it doesn't say - i.e. Will vaccination be a prerequisite for non-athlete participants and other visitors to Japan? I guess that athletes from developing countries might not be able to get vaccinated before the Olympic games. I don't think that athletes from higher income countries should be exempted from a vaccination requirement... but in any case, I'm still doubtful that the Olympics will happen at all.

evergrn

Read this:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-o...-idUSKCN10F1YI

jib71

That article makes it sound like the whole Olympic enterprise is a corrupt racket. It can't be true because sport is an unalloyed force for peace and good in the world. Everyone involved has pure motivations and the best interests of young people at heart.

evergrn

Cosport is so incredibly shady.

- In June they announced we’d have 30days from the date of 2021 Olympics schedule being published (but they said it was my responsibility to keep an eye on when that was) to request to be placed on cancellation track.

- In Aug, they announced another hoop to jump through for those requesting refund. It was Refund request form that we had to fill out and return to them, and that time they literally only gave us ~5 days till deadline.

- Failing either of the above, one is deemed not eligible for refund. How many people missed out simply by not checking their email closely?

- In late Aug, they said we would hear back regarding refund within 45-60 days. Still nothing.

- They apparently won’t refund the 20% shipping and handling fee, even though they never shipped anything.

- They have the worst possible BBB rating.

You lose respect for the Olympics when they’re selling tickets through a scam outfit like Cosport.

YariGuy

We had to get the credit card company (Chase) involved to get a refund from Cosport.

evergrn

That would be the last resort for me, but I may have to go that route that if I still don't have my refund by Feb or March.

hailstorm

This is sure to improve sentiment amongst the people towards the Olympics in Japan:

Cost to Delay Tokyo Olympics Is Estimated at $2 Billion

And for the rest of you, there's this gem:

jib71

“A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money."
(US Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen)

evergrn

Finally got my refund.
Of course they kept the shipping/handling, which I still think it's unethical.
But I'm glad to just put this to rest and move on.

I'm not sure if I want the Olympics to happen next summer.
Of course you want it for the athletes.
But I'm not sure what's better for Jpn... have a stripped-down version and then not get another summer Olympics for 40 years, or cancel it and preserve a shot at hosting normal Games within the next 12 years.

evergrn

So much chaos surrounding the JOC leadership.
I don't know how they could even begin to make the decision on the Olympics under these circumstances.
Nonetheless, aren't we now at the point in time where they should at least decide whether the Olympics (if held) would be held with limited spectators or no spectators?
It's a foregone conclusion that the Olympics cannot be held without significant reduction on the spectator capacity. J-League, sumo, Australian Open tennis, everything has been capped at max 50% attendance up to this point. What could possibly change that between now and July? Jpn won't be 70% vaccinated by July. There's no way possible that social distancing will go away until there's herd immunity.

Think they need to:
1. decide if they're still interested in having Olympics without full attendance (asap)
2. if so, then run a lottery to pare down ticketholders to max 50% capacity; ousted ticketholders notified so they can make other plans (late Feb)
3. decide if it's feasible to still have Olympics with limited crowd, or should convert to no-attendance Games, or cancel/postpone altogether (late March)

hailstorm

Pretty sure Australian Open tennis has been capped at max 0% attendance at this point.

I think everyone's attention is now devoted to a face-saving way out of this.

evergrn

JOC and IOC should be looking at Australian Open closely right now. I would expect they are.
I have a feeling that the JOC is actually still trying to pull off the Games. If Seiko Hashimoto is chosen to head JOC, she'll probably be super gung ho about it.
I don't know what the right thing is. What good will it do to Jpn to host a zero-attendance Olympics? They'd better take a pass on that! 50% attendance Games while enforcing rules and protocols would just be a lot of headache+cost with less revenue. If you keep postponing the Games a year at a time with uncertainty, you might just be wasting a lot of people's time and throwing more money down the drain. Cancelling the Games outright would be very unfair for Jpn after all this, unless there's some type of concession or compensation or something.

hailstorm

Yes, there are a lot of faces that need to be saved. Many of those faces have conflicting needs. The only thing they can currently all agree on is putting off a decision on the matters.

rustykettel

It's like holding a non-refundable ticket that you can't use or cancel without a fee. Best to wait for the last possible moment that there might be some external event to come along and use as the purported excuse.