According to the Japan Broadcasting Association (NHK), in response to the COVID-19 epidemic, Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures in the capital circle were declared a state of emergency from January 8 to February 7.
In addition, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government said in a statement that due to the increasing severity of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Olympic torch tour activities in Tokyo’s cities and districts will be temporarily suspended.
The pandemic in Tokyo is back.
On the 7th local time, Tokyo reported 2,447 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. Compared with the previous day, the number of cases increased by 850, an increase of more than 50%.
On the 8th, the number of new confirmed cases in Tokyo also reached 2,392, and the epidemic showed a spreading trend.
It was because of the sudden intensification of the epidemic in Tokyo that the Japanese government was forced to declare a state of emergency from January 8.
January 5th was originally the 200-day countdown to the Tokyo Olympic Games.
However, in the face of the surging epidemic, whether the Olympic Games can be held as scheduled still faces many challenges.
With less than 200 days before the Tokyo Olympic Games, the factors affecting the Olympic Games not only come from the epidemic in Japan, but also from the worldwide problems.
Suspension and restart, insufficient balance of “qualification time”
If the epidemic is difficult to dissipate, the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee may follow the BWF at the beginning of this year.
The BWF previously announced the 2021 schedule and will hold three games in Thailand to start the 2021 season.
However, immediately after the 3rd, the Malaysian Badminton Association issued an announcement that before leaving Thailand, the head coach of the Malaysian team, Huang Zonghan, tested positive for the novel coronavirus and missed the season.
The Japanese badminton team announced its collective withdrawal from the Thai Open, which will start on the 12th.
Although none of Thailand’s three competitions include Olympic points, the Olympic points will begin one after another from the Swiss Open in early March.
At present, Olympic qualifications for sports such as badminton, handball, boxing, wrestling, gymnastics and so on have not yet been fully produced. Under the current epidemic situation, it is difficult to ensure that athletes from all countries have the opportunity to participate in the Olympic Games through the current rules.
In extreme cases, in order to ensure the holding of the Olympic Games, the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee may have to negotiate with the International Olympic Committee and individual sports federations to choose to modify the conditions for the creation of Olympic qualification, reduce the number of athletes participating in the Olympic Games or the rules of the Olympic schedule.
In less than 200 days, the world is still plagued by the epidemic and catching up with the accumulation of many qualifying events. Whether the Olympic Games can be successfully held is obviously not only a difficult problem for Japan.
In the coming weeks, the tour of badminton, wrestling, judo, hockey, cycling, synchronized swimming, karate and other events will also begin one by one. In less than 200 days, I don’t know whether the “qualification time” left for the Tokyo Olympic Games is sufficient.
The empty venue was held to make the Olympics worse. The Japanese government “gritting its teeth” to hold the Olympic Games.
In addition to the possible discounts on athletes and sports, the Japanese Olympic Games will even be held without spectators due to epidemic prevention requirements.
According to Japanese media reports, Yasuhiro Yamashita, President of the Japanese Olympic Committee, said on the 4th that the format of the Tokyo Olympic Games will change, and there may be no audience, and there may be no interaction between athletes and the public.
However, the “discount” on spectators and athletes will not be displayed at cost. Instead, due to the postponement, the Olympic Games will also spend a large amount of extra expenses.
According to Kyodo News Agency on December 22, 2020, the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee announced the latest budget.
Due to the one-year delay due to the coronavirus epidemic, the total cost of the Olympic and Paralympic Games has increased to 1.64 trillion yen (about 15.8 billion US dollars) and the cost of the postponement has risen to 294 billion yen. ( About $2.83 billion)
In order to withdraw the initial investment and complete the contract with television distributors and sponsors, the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee had to grit its teeth to hold the Olympics under the pressure of the epidemic.
Fortunately, in early 2021, various coronavirus vaccines were launched, which gave some hope to the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee and the Japanese government.
Looking for the possibility of “vaccine”?
According to a report by Sky News on the 6th, Dick Pound, a senior official of the International Olympic Committee, said that athletes should give priority to vaccination against the coronavirus so that the Tokyo Olympic Games will still be held this summer.
After declaring a one-month state of emergency in the capital circle on the 7th, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiro Kan also said that once the vaccine began to be vaccinated in Japan on a large scale, the enthusiasm of the Japanese people for the Olympics will increase accordingly.
However, the vaccination of the novel coronavirus vaccine is not achieved overnight.
Each country, team and athlete also has different schedules and actual conditions to consider. It is obviously too ideal to put all the hopes of hosting the Olympic Games on the vaccination of all athletes against the novel coronavirus.
IOC President Thomas Bach previously said that mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations would be “backfire” and said “there are so many issues to consider, personal health issues, and everyone’s health is not the same.”
However, the International Olympic Committee is also considering assisting athletes who do not meet the conditions to achieve vaccination by the summer.
In less than 200 days, athletes and the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee need to ensure that all athletes are vaccinated, the qualifying matches are carried out smoothly, and the epidemic situation in various countries, especially in Tokyo, is well controlled in the summer…
When these difficult problems are piled together, the difficulty can be imagined.
Athletes who have not given up
And the repeated epidemic has also caused the athletes to suffer.
Because of the epidemic, some professional sports have been suspended for a long time, and some athletes even need to work extra part-time to earn income because they are unable to participate in the competition for a long time.
Japanese foiler Miyake has previously won the silver medal in the men’s team at the London Olympics.
Affected by the epidemic in the first half of 2020, he had to make money by delivering takeaway because he lacked sponsors to participate in the competition.
And his training ground is only left with his roof. Because fencing is to hit the opponent with a sword in your hand, in the absence of opponents and professional training venues, there will be no real experience, and the training effect is limited.
But even so, he is still hopeful of participating in the future, even the Tokyo Olympics, and is always ready for it.
Colombian heptathlete Aguilar trained at home for months, during which she could not do activities such as running, and sports such as long jump and high jump were difficult to complete.
In July 2020, she was tested for COVID-19 and obtained permission from Columbia Sports to resume outdoor training.
Aguilar said that she has a clear goal and hopes to represent her motherland in the Tokyo Olympic Games and enjoy sports passion with athletes from all over the world.
Whether the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games will be held is still in suspense. 2020 has lost professional athletes for a year. After all, waiting for the next three years may mean giving up.
Whether their Olympic dream can be fulfilled still depends on the future epidemic situation.
