With so much uncertainty in the sporting world during the Coronavirus pandemic, what kind of effect will the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics have? Peter Watton shares his insight into the delay of this year’s games.
With many local major sporting meets such as the Grand National cancelled already this year, plus summer events like Wimbledon rumoured to follow, it wasn’t surprising to learn that a massive international endeavour like the Summer Olympics was taking a similar approach. In fact, 2020 Olympic hosts Japan announced this week that the highly anticipated and expensive games will not be going ahead as planned, and will be rescheduled for the following year instead.
The Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) originally gave themselves a deadline of four weeks to decide what to do about the Olympic games in the face of the global coronavirus pandemic. But the sheer rate of the spread of the virus, plus mounting pressure from all angles, led them to make a decision early — one that should help safeguard athletes, attendees, Japan and the world. Plus, with countries such as Canada and Australia withdrawing from the event, it’s more commercially viable for the games to wait.
But what will the impact of the Summer Olympics postponement be?
What will be different?
It’s been officially announced that the games will take place in Tokyo ‘no later’ than summer 2021, and they will still be referred to as the 2020 Olympics. The games were originally planned to open on the 24 July and will likely take place around the same time next year, so as not to clash with other major sporting events. Despite the delay, Seiko Hashimoto, Japan’s Olympic Minister, said the country fully intends to host a complete Olympics without cutbacks and with full attendance.
It’s worth mentioning at this point that the games have never been postponed before, although they were cancelled during the first and second World Wars. That means that the delay has no precedent, which makes it harder to anticipate what the impact may be.
In the meantime, the Olympic flame, lit without spectators in ancient Olympia on 12 March, will reside in Japan to act as a ‘beacon of hope’.
Who will be affected?
The postponement will be a huge financial blow for Japan as the country has already spent at least £10 billion in preparation for the games, but everyone from sponsors and broadcasters to the tourism trade will all be affected, causing even more damage to the economy.
There’s also the question of deciding which athletes will take part next year. Will those who have already qualified (around half of the spots were already filled before the games were postponed) still qualify to compete next year? Will those sportspeople still be top of their game in 12 months' time?
The delay is also likely to have a massive impact on the motivation of athletes who have been intensely training for the games and now have to wait to compete, not to mention the tens of thousands of people from around the world who were planning to attend.
But however disappointing it may be, it’s undeniably in everyone’s interests to wait until next year, not least because most training grounds have been closed, affecting the athletes' preparations, and travel restrictions will inevitably make mass international travel impossible.
The decision to postpone the Tokyo Olympics can’t have come easy. However, until more is known about the coronavirus and the spread of infection is under control, delays like these are to be expected. With decisions still up in the air, only time will tell how the 2020 Summer Olympic Games will eventually pan out.
