As a lifelong sports fan, I usually look forward to the Olympic Games, but not so much this year because COVID-19 afflicts and infects the Tokyo Games. Although last night's opening ceremonies were colorful, the mood was somber with the pandemic looming over the proceedings and no fans in the stands.
NBC, which has broadcast rights, is hyping the Games 24/7 but sports fans are lukewarm and the Japanese people, who don't always welcome foreigners, fear that the Tokyo Games will turn out to be a dangerous "superspreader" event. USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan called it a "nightmare scenario." "Are these going to be known as the COVID Olympics?" she asked. "How could they not be?"
How do the Japanese people feel about the Games? Last week the prestigious Toyota Motor Corp. announced that it wouldn't run any Olympics-related ads in Japan during the Games. That decision speaks volumes.
The Associated Press reported that "the pressure to hold the Olympics is largely financial for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), a nonprofit but highly commercial body that earns 91 percent of its income from broadcast rights and sponsorships. Estimates suggest that a cancellation could cost $3 billion to $4 billion in broadcast rights income." That's why the Wall Street Journal called these Games "a $20 billion bust."
So as in politics, money talks in sports too, but I'm old enough to remember when professional athletes were barred from the "amateur" Games. Now, however, professional athletes abound at the Games, and it's all about money.
"Before a postponement 15 months ago, Japan was on track to host a well-run but expensive Olympics," the AP said. "But now, worries that the Games will become an incubator for the virus hang over them," and the Olympic Village will feature a fever clinic, "the last place anyone wants to go."
Olympic athletes aren't going to have much fun in Tokyo since they've been told to drink alone in their rooms. "One of the symbols of the celebratory atmosphere of the Olympics has long been its notorious policy of handing out condoms," the AP added. "This time there will be 150,000 condoms – but only given to athletes as they leave for home." Go figure!
COVID-19 won't be the only plague afflicting the Tokyo Games. "Social justice" politics will afflict the Games as well. The politically correct U.S. women's soccer team is taking a knee during the playing of our National Anthem and some "woke" athletes will turn their backs on the American flag during medal ceremonies. And of course we'll have to put up with self-centered American soccer star Megan Rapinoe's "progressive" opinions about everything from Black Lives Matter to Critical Race Theory. I wish she'd just shut up and play soccer – something she's really good at.
What a contrast between Rapinoe and the amazing and inspiring Simone Biles, perhaps the greatest female gymnast in the history of her demanding sport. Biles is proud to be an African-American success story and never disrespects our flag. However, she does advocate for female gymnasts who were molested by former U.S. Olympic team doctor Larry Nassar, as she was. Nassar is spending the rest of his life in prison, where he belongs. I'll be rooting for Biles to set many more Olympic records, but I won't be watching our women's soccer team's political antics.
Jason Gay, who will be covering the Games for the Wall Street Journal, wrote that "if you're not feeling wary about these Games, then you haven't been paying attention to what the people of Japan have been saying." He'll be writing a sad story.
Guy W. Farmer loves sports, even the Olympic Games.
