Tokyo 2020: Only an apocalypse – or government ineptitude – can prevent the Olympics from going ahead
- Virus? What virus? Japanese Olympic and government officials too busy planning for the Games to worry about the plague on their doorstep
- Shortcomings brought squarely into focus when influential IOC executive admitted they were very worried about the coronavirus
Some days three or four messages arrive in the inbox, other days one or two. But every day, without fail, there is an email with a corresponding press release from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic press office and it has been that way for nearly two years. Naturally, the sheer volume of messages invites the mundane.
Over the last month alone, there were a couple of hundred words detailing how “for the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, hydrogen will be used to power both the Olympic and Paralympic cauldrons”. A few hundred more words were on the official Games mascots visiting six cities in Europe to promote the ‘Make the Beat!’ cheering project, as well as thousands upon thousands of words to extol the virtues of the wonderfully benign corporate partners. All of it, presumably, newsworthy.
But there was nothing whatsoever that even remotely addressed the elephant in the room; what steps were organisers taking to ensure the safety of over 11,000 athletes and support staff, not to mention the 10 million visitors expected to flow into Tokyo, during the Games (July 24–August 9) since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the coronavirus “a public health emergency of international concern” one month ago?
After all, the Games were only 150 days away and there were over 700 passengers on a cruise ship in nearby Yokohama harbour who had just contacted the virus during their forced Japanese quarantine.
Clearly though, the local organising committee took their lead from the government, whose attitude has been that it may be happening on our doorstep, but it’s not happening in our universe.
