The Tokyo Olympics Do Not Look Like Fun For Anyone
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are about a month away and we're starting to get a clearer picture of what the games will look like. CNN's Selina Wang walked through the Olympic Village and shared some images of the usual dorm room accomodations. This year, of course, they feature all the COVID protocol rooms that look like the last thing you see before the protagonist in the movie breaks free to go find his family.
CNN's @SelinaWangTV takes a look at Tokyo's Olympic Village, a city within a city where elite athletes will spend their time when they're not competing for Olympic gold: https://t.co/7d4furEcli pic.twitter.com/C5QaJF495q
— CNN (@CNN) June 21, 2021
You do not want to test positive at the Olympics. And yet organizers still have athletes sharing tiny rooms against the wishes of medical experts. Just like they've decided to allow 50 percent capacity crowds at events. Those are all local fans as foreign fans have been banned. (Which never would have happened at the Florida Olympics.)
In this Australian news report they explain how fans will have to wear masks and won't be allowed to shout. Instead fans are encouraged to clap. Snapping is probably also allowed if you'd like to think about the Olympics as a coffee house performance.
Tokyo 2020 organisers have announced local fans will be permitted to attend next month’s Olympics - but they won’t be allowed to shout. @JoelDry7 https://t.co/Jst0zDWk9F #TheLatest #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/0s8jLo26Ub
— 7NEWS Australia (@7NewsAustralia) June 21, 2021
Then there are the protestors. The people who think that inviting hundreds of countries to send people into the heart of a city for some games in the middle of a global pandemic is a bad idea.
Honestly, none of this sounds fun. If you didn't like what the NBA did at Disney World, you're going to hate the going-through-the-motions-ness of the Olympics where the IOC just tries to collect that TV money and Japan tries to justify the $15.4 billion it cost to put on these games.
I think the time has come to consider if the Olympics are even worth the trouble. Not just this year, but 2024 and beyond. The way the IOC does things. The ability of each sport to just host their own Olympic event at preexisting venues and the sheer number of channels that exist to show these games is much more economical. I know it will never happen, but it should. Just wait until the final bills start rolling in for Paris in '24 and Los Angeles in '28. Civic pride is great, but the afterglow doesn't seem to last.