baron-pierreIV

Wasn't aware that it was a 4-year ban. But hey, if Vlady and his merry band of billionaires can round up a few $500 million TOP sponsors, I am sure that 4-year ban might disappear quickly. Does the ban extend to FIFA and FINA? So, will Russia make a full appearance to the postponed world championships?

Aha. Aha.

In all probability, this year's IOC Session has also been postponed until Tokyo next year. So Athens can forget hosting the 2021 Session. That will happen in Tokyo as well; and any pressing matters this year can be covered by some sort of teleconference -- altho it will be difficult to have people staying awake at 2-3-4 AM their time, so that everyone around the globe is "live" at a global teleconference.

Well, put it this way: half of the world's T&F athletes cannot compete in the CWGs (USA, Russia, China, Germany) -- so those can go to what's now called World Athletics in Eugene 2022. But if you're a top Aussie, GB, Jamaican or Canadian athlete, then you have to make the individual choice-compete in a weaker field at the CWGs or against the best at Eugene. I think their performances at Tokyo 2021 will tell them where to compete for 2022. Or those 4 CWG nations can send the promising newcomers to Worlds and the veterans to CWG before they turn in their towels -- or vice-versa?

It looks like Eugene 2021 will become Eugene 2022 -- so running right up against CWG 2022. The postponement of Tokyo 2020 will have a whole DOMINO effect on the entire sports calendar.

Well, that's NOT true. Their M & W's Indoor Volleyball teams qualified for Tokyo -- if this happened. I think their flag cannot appear in the OC or at the medal ceremonies -- but select athletes and teams, those who have qualified fairly, are in. But if they meet all the penalties required of them by next spring, then I don't see the IOC banning their flag from full participation. Because only 57% of sports had finished their qualifications (and some Russian teams are already in there), they are going to try everything to change the picture and be fully accredited by 2021. They have one more year to try and fix things in their favor.

Did anybody think about them? Did the IOC consult with this all-important bloc? Why is it all about the "athletes"? What about Mama-san and Papa-san Shinzaro's plans for the little concession stand at the corner of Cherry Blossom Avenue and Rue Pikachu in the Shinbun district of Tokyo? The Yakuza will now squeeze the Shinzaros of their life savings, just to have the same space in 2021!! We need to start a GoFundMe page for the Shinzaros and others like them -- or send all the bills to Lausanne!!

Bit of history: Who was the Japanese official who said that Tokyo has had bad luck in being named an Olympic host city -- and he may have been right. Specifically, I wonder if he referred to the late naming of Sapporo to stage the marathon events -- and as a coupling, it recreated the JOINT cancellation of the 1940 Olympiad? At that time, it was the same country that hosted both Summer & Winter Games. So, when Nazi Germany grabbed Poland and the Sudetenland, and Imperial Japan bombed Pearl Harbor (crazy nation of Japan pretty much sealing its own fate in terms of Olympic dreams), it was NOT only Tokyo that was the loser for 1940, but Sapporo as well --although of course, preparations at that time were all on a much smaller scale. And here we are, 80 years later -- and a Tokyo-Sapporo configuration of the same year, again has to be cancelled. Is everything on a century cycle? To wit: - the double awarding of 2024/28 mirrors that of the same horse-trading arrangement of 1924/28/32. - the 1918 pandemic of the Spanish flu - the cancellation of Tokyo/Sapporo 2020 to +1. (What will happen to Russia's participation for next year? They were also not playing in 1940.)

I don't understand this. Why would anyone pay $400 million for an arena, only to tear it down? (I mean, even the nutcase Donald Trump can't be that crazy to execute such a move.) I know it's an old facility but wouldn't throwing, say , another $150 mil to upgrade it, make the most sense -- thereby spending like $500 mil in total instead of another $1 billion+ for a state-of-the-art arena like Chase Center in San Francisco which supposedly cost $1.3 billion (including the land)?

It's rumored that the IOC has at least $20 billion in the bank (supposedly 3rd only to Apple and the Vatican in terms of reserve cash). This is the time to open that reserve box. That's what it's there for. They can easily recoup the amounts by Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024.

But the virus is arriving later at island nations naturally, and because they can limit or cut off access to their territory quickly. - look at the late arrival of the virus in Cuba; - Japan; very low numbers in the Philippines (a few weeks ago) despite the large presence of Chinese nationals there; - Taiwan (which practically does NOT have direct contact with mainland China); - very late in Oahu, Hawaii. What about stats from North Korea? Mongolia? Unless hospitals report the numbers to their respective Departments of Health, there really is NO accurate count for this virus.

From The New York Times -- putting it mildly. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/sports/olympics/coronavirus-olympics-postponement.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage

No; it's NOT the athletes nor the sports. The IOC supervises the World Games (or gives it its blessings)as well. They do that so that they have control over these other wannabe Olympic sports-- so those sports that can't get in, DON'T mutiny, then band together and stage their own counter-Olympic Games. So the IOC lends its organization as a subtle way to keep those "other" sports in check. The IOC can concentrate on ONLY ONE event a time per season. Remember, Bach is the only fully salaried member. All other IOC members are "volunteers," thus their get-togethers are limited to one or 2x a year. Also, remember why they moved the Winter Games to the other "even" year? So World Games-Birmingham 2021 will probably NOT happen while the SOGs are on in Tokyo in 2021. The IOC is a very "hands-on," "micro-management" organization. So just wait. If they were willing to sacrifice shifting the MAIN EVENT, what's the fallout for also shifting or cancelling an altogether more minor event for them? And remember, it's NOT just the main body of the SOGs at stake. There are also the Paralympics (to which the IOC has a contract to support as well) to deal with, which happen a few weeks after the main SOG event. So I fear, Birmingham 2021 and Eugene 2021 will be two major victims next year.

Cruise ships docked in Tokyo Bay could be the 2021 Villages -- but the IOC's going to have pay HEFTY prices to turn the vessels around and lock in the cruise ships for 3 weeks in Summer 2021 NOW! I've already received the sales brochures for 2021 cruises -- so they are selling those spaces now. And I guess it would actually be in Yokohoma since that is Tokyo's port -- and they're going to have to refit the Yokohoma and Tokyo harbors to accommodate 7 or 8 of the behemoths simultaneously -- if they can get them. Housing the Paralympians will be the MORE difficult task because those cruise ships aren't exactly equipped for the more complicated quadraplegic configurations.

They'll deposit it at some temple in the Tokyo Prefecture; or that's where it should go.