bpe

Visiting spectators are a much bigger problem than visiting athletes - there are far more of them and will have more close contact in the stands with each other compared to athletes.

A logical although sort of unfair solution would be to be to decide country by country depending on how contained the virus is there by the time the Olympics come.

jib71

I've been backstage at these events. Believe me, many of the athletes have very close contact with each other. Although they're fewer in number than the spectators and less likely to suffer serious consequences from infection with this virus - by virtue of their youth (with some exceptions) and their fitness - they risk being carriers and spreading the infection widely when they return to adoring fans, friends, and family back home.
Seriously, the olympics can't go ahead this year. The only people who won't admit it are the Japanese government, the IOC, and their insurers. The sooner they get their heads together and work out how to extract themselves from the game of chicken ("We're not cancelling. Are you cancelling?") the better. The failure to admit that the olympics can't go ahead this year is sending the wrong message to the general population.

LapLap

I don’t ever see the Paralympics being discussed. The era when an Olympics could go ahead without the Paralympics is surely long gone. It’s like all those folk and fairy tales where in order to marry the trophy prize sister, the “older” one needs to secure a marriage contract as well or the deal is off (the part where the “unwanted” sister is great company and a joy to be around often gets left out)
Many of those athletes, and their supporters and support staff, feature prominently in at risk groups.

AlwaysAisle

In defiance with rest of the world, the game must go on!

bpe

Oh of course. It's just that the ideas of holding the olympics with only spectators or only athletes really make no sense. It's all or nothing.

The trouble is that the Japanese government and IOC both have very little to lose if they keep holding out and never being the ones to choose to cancel. As long as it's not their call it doesn't matter if they are canceled the day before they are supposed to start; it's really the spectators, athletes and (to a lesser extent) local olympic staff that are affected by a late cancellation.

O Sora

Thanks a lot, evergrn.

evergrn

That would suck big time (for me, and 1000x more for the athletes), but I'm afraid you might be right.
Rhetorics have suddenly changed the last 24hrs.

A JOC member has come out saying the Olympics should be postponed.
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=2...002-asahi-soci

Jpn Athletics Federation official comments on postponement scenarios.
https://www.nikkansports.com/olympic...190000695.html

addendum:
Every single reader comment (all by Japanese people) on the Yahoo link is in agreement with this renegade JOC member, despite the likelihood that this lady will probably be pummeled and ostracized by other JOC and government officials.
I still wish they would not jump to any decision on the Olympics until mid-May or last feasible moment, even as the situation here (USA) is dire. But reading through the comments, it's hard to argue.

evergrn

With the increasing calls from different organizations to postpone, I don't see how IOC can stay the course with the current Olympics plan at this point.
Norway Olympics Committee, USA Swimming, British Athletics, Spanish Olympics, Washington Post, Japanese Boxing

Even if we manage to get over the hump with the pandemic by ~June, I guess the issue is that athletes are currently not able to prepare for the Games or the qualifiers due to all the closures/restrictions from the coronavirus.

evergrn

If the virus situation dies down and travel restrictions are lifted, yet the Olympics are cancelled/postponed, I wonder what type of policies/waivers (if any) the airlines will have with regards to flights to/from Jpn this July/Aug.

For the Olympics, I had to do a complicated flight itinerary involving 4 separate bookings through 3 different airlines involving 3 different Asian countries.

LapLap

The way the pandemic has been spreading across the world has been a wave - first East Asia, then Iran and Europe and out it continues. The time scale for each country was different, is different, will be different. The idea that measures being put into place will have had enough effect to create a space for a Summer Olympics/Paralympics ignores the fact that there are still many countries - all part of the Olympic Family, because if there is any point at all to this huge behemoth of an organisation it’s the message that we are part of a brotherhood of man and can unite in an appreciation of Sport - that are just entering into the fray, or are about to. The idea that, come June/July, their emergencies and humanitarian crises should be swept aside as inconvenient whilst the “big boys” hog the field is abhorrent. Not that the “big boys” are going to be ready to play by then anyway, but if they were... as I said, it contradicts the very spirit of the games.

groovbusta

With Canada and Australia pulling out of Tokyo 2020 today, surely a final announcement by the IOC to postpone will come soon... no surprise here.

PAX_fips

There we are, from Abe's mouth https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2...umstances.html

rxgeek

jib71
I went around the world. It was alright for a holiday but I wouldn't want to live there - Michael Redmond
"This year he went around the world. Next year he's going someplace else."- my mother

Pureboy

Olympics officially Postponed until latest Summer 2021.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200324_52/

Abe, IOC head agree to hold Games by summer 2021

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach have agreed to hold the Tokyo Games by the summer of 2021 at the latest.

Abe and Bach talked over the phone on Tuesday to discuss what to do about the Games. That comes in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

Bach agreed with Abe's proposal to postpone the Games by about a year.

catbox9

I have tickets to the 2020 games from Cosport who is the official seller for the United States. Emailed them about a refund since the games are postponed and got a hard no from them.