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2 hours ago, MisterSG1 said:

So tell me, just because some athlete from Australia swims across a pool faster than someone else, how does that make your life better at all?

Just because Sidney Crosby scored a sudden death goal, how did that make your life better?

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3 minutes ago, Triplecast said:

Just because Sidney Crosby scored a sudden death goal, how did that make your life better?

Exactly that, it was just a stupid hockey game. It’s funny how things have come full circle though, Canadian media used to blast the sour face US team winning the silver medal. Meanwhile the Canadian women had an equal sour face when they lost, of course the Canadian media never jumped on that.

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11 hours ago, Quaker2001 said:

1 important thing to keep in mind IMO that has both a positive and a negative aspect to it.

It's hard to ignore the fact that there are different rules in place for Olympians (and everyone associated with the Games) and the rest of Japan's citizens.  Understandable and if I were a Japanese citizen, I would be upset by that.  But I would be upset at the system that created that, not at the people entering my country who are subject to stricter protocols than everyone else.  I've been reading stories about 6 or 7 hour waits at the airport to clear through all the COVID protocols and everything else needed just to leave the airport.  And this is in a country where, to my knowledge, there aren't strict lockdowns and it's more that the state of emergency reads like a bunch of suggestions than enforceable rules.

Maybe it's my arrogance as an American where some of our sports leagues have so much money to throw around that they were able to create a proper and secure bubble for the NBA and NHL playoffs.  And managed the MLB and NFL seasons through the pandemic.  Obviously I understand the size and scope of an Olympics is much greater, but did Japan not plan properly for this?  If their safety protocols aren't secure, then who is responsible for that?  Either way, the idea that all these people are bringing COVID to Japan with them.. well, this is what testing is for, to help prevent it from spreading further.  And from the numbers I've seen, the Olympics have NOT exacerbated the numbers or the percentage of positives anymore than was already there. 

Time will tell.  It's going to be very easy for Japanese to blame the Olympics for their woes.  But the flip side of that is that their leadership might just be pushing through with the Games as a cover to deflect for their poor management and vaccination rollout.

It’s possibly me, but I don’t quite get your point here. You seem to imply that the Japanese citizenry should be upset because foreigners coming in for the games are having to go through far more draconian protocols than the general citizens (and, yeah, I’ve read the reports too about the exhausting and exhaustive protocols to just leave Narita). I would have thought any citizen be happy and reassured that such protocols were in place to hopefully minimise the risk of incoming foreigners exacerbating their domestic health challenges. I sure would be. I’d rather think it was a very necessary step in reassuring the populace that any risks from the games were trying to be managed to minimise them as far as possible. Maybe we think diametrically oppositely on this, but I for one am glad that Oz has a strict quarantine policy for all incoming arrivals, even if it isn’t always as effective as it should be.

i can see your point about the “bubbles” that domestic sports leagues around the world have been forced to introduce. Our leagues do similarly (I think we were actually one, if not the first, to introduce the concept when we restarted our sports comps mid last year).  But i don’t think it’s something that was possible to apply to the case of the Olympics. It’s one thing to isolate discrete groups of teams of up to dozens in each in secure bubbles internally. It’s quite another to think that could be transposed to 200 plus national squads, some of them running into the hundreds (or even over 1000 by the time support staff are added), across multiple and very different sports, with the bulk of those squads only recently selected and many of them already dispersed across the globe competing in various qualifying and lead-up events. This is what Japan has had to plan for. Now, you’d hope that most national teams would already have screened their athletes before letting them embark to Tokyo - perhaps already have a “pre-bubble” in place. But as Japan, you sure couldn’t count on it, and I well understand they would want their own screening and lines of defences before letting them in. I can’t see what else they could have done - short of biting the bullet and cancelling them (which I can see the pros and cons of doing).

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7 hours ago, MisterSG1 said:

 

And on to you…

7 hours ago, MisterSG1 said:

So why should people playing a silly game be ahead of vaccine queue of older seniors who need the vaccine right now? Yes, Australia is in a severe lockdown that resembles a police state and I'm not surprised more people there would be angry on this silly double standard. Athletes can freely leave and reenter Australia while Joe Public cannot. As you have said, there are 34,000 Australians in other countries who are currently barred. How does this not make you angry at all?

First, the part in bold. I’m not sure if it’s a typo (you added the “not” when you meant you were surmised),  or you misunderstood me, but to clarify, i was making a point that there is NO widespread outrage to our athletes getting their vaccines to compete in Tokyo.

Anyway, our vaccination problems stem a large part from complacency (by both our Government and our citizenry), a dose of vaccine hesitancy (exacerbated by a bit of anti-AstraZenica hysteria) and some poor planning and process implementation.We DO have stocks of doses, we ARE attempting to get at the very utmost our most vulnerable vaccinated - certainly not through want of cajoling, and no elderly or health compromised person is being sent away because “an athlete took your vial of vaccine”.  As to them getting to travel overseas? It’s not like they’re not having to go through all manner of loops, some very draconian, in order to do so. It hasn’t been a red carpet for them all the way. And they’re going to have to go again through the hoops of quarantine on their return. Yes, I can feel for the 34,000 finding it hard to get back home, it’s one of the many sad tales of this epidemic, but it’s not the athletes stopping them from coming. And in Australia, as long as they are not behaving badly, our sports people are given a bit of leeway.

7 hours ago, MisterSG1 said:

So tell me, just because some athlete from Australia swims across a pool faster than someone else, how does that make your life better at all? Olympics cause unnecessary hatred between nations, it is as Peter Gabriel put it "War without tears".

It lifts the national mood. Especially around this time when there’s a great need to lift the national mood. Just as Ash Barty winning at Wimbledon a few weeks ago was a welcome jolt of national comfort when our Laurent lockdown was just starting. Our swimmers’ achievements are a part of the national psyche (just as ice hockey is a part of the Canadian psyche). You could try to psychoanalyse why it’s so and why it’s important - insecurity, projection, appropriated pride or whatever - but Australia banks a lo of emotional energy on its sports reps. It’s not like we’re the only ones - the NZ stock exchange regularly slumps if the All Blacks do badly at a Rugby World Cup, Brazilians mods rise and fall on the performance of their football team etc etc. And at it’s best, it really can drive positive community benefit - Cathy Freeman’s cauldron lighting and Gold a Sydney 2000 was a giant positive advance to the role of our indigenous citizens in our community - just as Ash Barry’s win has Ben as well. You talk of sports causing division and hatred, but neglect also it’s ability to bring communities together and to bridge divides.

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It's behind a pay wall but the Wall Street Journal is stating that the Tokyo Olympics will be expected to lost 20 billion USD. This is not going to go unnoticed in future bidding cycles.

And the bubble is already broken. Seems like Tokyo could've mitigated the Covid factor by requiring two week hotel or Olympic Village quarantines for all athletes, media, and IOC members.

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5 minutes ago, stryker said:

It's behind a pay wall but the Wall Street Journal is stating that the Tokyo Olympics will be expected to lost 20 billion USD. This is not going to go unnoticed in future bidding cycles.

That's cheap.  Sochi was $55 Billion; Beijing 2008 was $40 billion (and if 2022 proceeds, they'll amortize some of those infrastructure costs for a 2nd use; so that'll be a bargain).  2020ne only has turned out higher because of the one-year delay and the closure of nearly everything -- with no tourist $$s coming in.  But Japan is rich enough to absorb those losses.  And it will still get the global TV coverage these events look forward to.  

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8 minutes ago, baron-pierreIV said:

That's cheap.  Sochi was $55 Billion; Beijing 2008 was $40 billion (and if 2022 proceeds, they'll amortize some of those infrastructure costs for a 2nd use; so that'll be a bargain).  2020ne only has turned out higher because of the one-year delay and the closure of nearly everything -- with no tourist $$s coming in.  But Japan is rich enough to absorb those losses.  And it will still get the global TV coverage these events look forward to.  

They are in a recession. They'll absorb the hit but it will be painful. In terms of infrastructure, venues like the aqauatics center, gymnastics arena, rowing course, and Ariake Arena are now wastes since there are no fans. I also expect that the next elections will see Suga's party lose control of the government. I still suspect he expects this and that's why he put off the snap election until after the election as a loss could've resulted in a new prime minister cancelling the games.

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2 hours ago, FYI said:

Ugh, the Olympic Games start in less than a day now, & I don't feel as excited as I have in the past. Just seems like another ordinary day. Hopefully, most of the competitions won't have further problems. 

Not just coronvirus but also doping too.

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On 7/22/2021 at 3:40 PM, baron-pierreIV said:

That's cheap.  Sochi was $55 Billion; Beijing 2008 was $40 billion (and if 2022 proceeds, they'll amortize some of those infrastructure costs for a 2nd use; so that'll be a bargain).  2020ne only has turned out higher because of the one-year delay and the closure of nearly everything -- with no tourist $$s coming in.  But Japan is rich enough to absorb those losses.  And it will still get the global TV coverage these events look forward to.  

Russia essentially built a new city for that amount of money, though. And (partially due to western sanctions preventing Russians from going to the west) that city has become a booming tourist town.

What will the Japanese get in exchange for the $20 billion investment? 

I don't know if it's been mentioned upthread, but Toyota, Panasonic and other Japanese companies are pulling their Olympic ads on domestic Japanese television. These games have become a toxic brand in Japan, and no one with any sense would want to be associated with the disaster.

Edited by Nacre
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13 minutes ago, iceman530 said:

I think any political member who proposes a future games at any level will probably get assassinated on the spot.  Japan wont be bidding for another game again in my lifetime (and Im in my 30s).

This is the reason why the police are trained very hard

 

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That is same for every other country too. France, Italy, the United States and Australia had to beef up their security for the future Olympics. Back to Japan, at least, Tokyo 2020 is becoming the gender equality games too according to The Hill: https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/564548-tokyo-2020-becomes-most-gender-equal-olympics-in-history 

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1 hour ago, Victorian said:

For a games meant to have no fans, there seems to be quite a few around most notably the cycling and swimming today!

I was wondering how so many people were there.  Someone still needs to explain to me why NPB games can have people in attendance but Olympic events cannot

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21 minutes ago, Quaker2001 said:

I was wondering how so many people were there.  Someone still needs to explain to me why NPB games can have people in attendance but Olympic events cannot

This is the question.  Baseball is played in front of crowds.  The  cycling road evnt drew crowds.  The idea that these games are not supported and the Japanese don't want to go to see these events is a myth.

They could easily sell tickets to half fill these events. 

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Watched some of the beach volleyball, swimming and badminton. It is utterly sad that the venues are empty. Feels so wasted to build all these temporary seating only to not use them. Surely they can allow even just 10%/ 20% capacity with plenty of space between spectators just to give it down atmosphere? 
 

Adam Peaty of Team GB already said this morning after his heat that it doesn’t feel like the Olympics. 

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