Japan might be in a state of emergency right now due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the International Olympic Committee claims everything’s “moving fully ahead.” There are no plans for another adjournment of the Olympic Games.
The announcement from the IOC hasn’t been met with praise from the public. Recently, a protester crashed the committee’s press conference, shouting: “No Olympics anywhere. F*** Olympics. We don’t want the Olympics. No Olympics in LA. No Olympics in Tokyo.” The protester, who held an anti-Olympics flag, introduced himself as ‘David O’Brien from Yahoo’ and was quickly removed from the conference.
Even though it was just an individual protester, the incident raised many questions, specifically whether the world is ready to gather at such a huge sporting event. Japan is seeing an enormous spike of new coronavirus cases, the highest in East Asia, and is currently in a state of emergency. Numerous events have already been cancelled or postponed, including the torch relay in Hiroshima, scheduled for May 17.
The Japanese people are also against the Olympics, at least at this moment. A recently conducted poll found that 59% of the population is against the Games taking place this summer. Vaccines are also rolling out at a snail’s pace in the country, with just 2% of the population receiving a dose.
“We understand that these are tough times. We understand that people are very cautious. But the test events and the playbooks should give the Japanese people confidence that these Games can be held in a very safe and secure way,” said Mark Adams, the IOC spokesperson.
Adams added that the IOC is well in the implementation phase and expects the public opinion to change once the first day of the Olympics approaches. He added that he’s certain the IOC’s playbook, as well as the results from several test events held across Japan, are a guarantee of this year’s Games being safe for the public.
The Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics are scheduled to start on July 23 at the Japan National Stadium. A lot of new betting sites are already preparing for this grand sporting event.
