Extraordinary Olympics: Tokyo Feast in Time of Plague
Source: gksport.ru
Olympics that shouldn't be
For all the newest history The most prestigious world sporting events were postponed only three times in the Olympic Movement - in 1916, 1940 and 1944. The reason was two world wars. By March last year, it became clear that humanity is waging a new war, this time with a viral infection. As a result, the Tokyo Summer Olympics were canceled and returned to the idea of holding only by the middle of this year. After all, the billions of dollars invested in Japan's sports infrastructure should at least partially pay off. Despite the general positive background of the upcoming sports event, many aspects of Tokyo 2020 are perplexing.
The Olympics are held in 2021, but for some unknown reason they date it to the last year. The experience of the last century shows that the first post-war games were organized in accordance with sequential numbering. If in 1948 London hosted the Olympic Games postponed due to the war, then no one renamed the event to "London-1944". It was in this year that the XIII Summer Games were originally supposed to take place.
Source: sport-express.ru
In the case of the XXXII Summer Olympics in Tokyo, historical parallels did not play a role, and the games received the actual status of last year. A similar story is with the European Football Championship - the postponed tournament was held under the name "Euro 2020". Most likely, the reason is banal to the point of impossibility - the organizing committee of the Olympiad simply decided not to spend money on reprinting pre-prepared banners and advertisements, re-issuing medals and branding. In this regard, the example of not the most respected Eurovision Song Contest is indicative. The organizers did not invent difficulties and simply called the event Eurovision-2021.
Olympic facilities for Tokyo 2020. Source: sport-express.ru
The second paradox of games is the very fact of organizing large-scale and massive competitions during a pandemic. No matter how we treat this phenomenon, the fact remains that coronavirus infection is much more infectious and more dangerous than other respiratory viruses. What about the Games? Japan introduces a state of emergency in the country immediately before August 22 and imposes draconian restrictions on foreign delegations. Every day, a COVID-19 test, a two-week quarantine upon arrival in the country, a strict restriction on attending competitions and a ban on visiting the Olympic Village. The athletes themselves seem to live in the village as if on a reservation. But this does not help either - as of July 22, there are already 80 infected people on the lists of participants in the Olympics. In the Japanese capital, despite the measures taken, there is a jump in the incidence - more than 1800 detected cases per day. In many ways, this determined the growth in the number of infected throughout Japan. In three days, a 48% increase in positive tests was recorded. The International Olympic Committee did not rule out the cancellation of the World Games at the very last moment. It would, of course, be a moral and political failure. As the head of the WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted, the Olympiad is now vital to unite the world in the fight against infection. And canceling at the last moment would be an acknowledgment of the victory of COVID-19. The idea of holding the Tokyo Olympics in the midst of a global pandemic was initially flawed, but once they took it, please be so kind to bring the Olympics to the end. However, it would be a stretch to call the planned action the Olympics in the true sense. The recent words of Vladimir Pozner in an interview with Match-TV are more relevant than ever:
“This Olympics is strange: because there will be no spectators, and because it was not clear for a long time whether it would take place at all, plus the fact that it was postponed. It seems distant or even unnecessary. She's not captivating. "
Olympic segregation
The essence of sporting events in the coronavirus era puts athletes in an unequal position. As you might expect, the first ones who were disqualified due to infection appeared. The first to be suspended from the competition was Chilean taekwondo player Fernanda Aguirre, who passed a positive COVID test upon arrival in Japan. The Dutch national team has lost the infected skateboarder Candy Jacobs. No, the girl is feeling well, one might say she is alive and well, but nothing can be done against a positive test. Jacobs comments on this:
"My heart is broken. Unfortunately, I tested positive for COVID-19 this morning. This means that my Olympic path has come to an end. I feel good and did my best and took all precautions to avoid this scenario. Luckily, we followed safety protocol so my fellow skateboarders will still have a chance to shine. "
Olympic facilities for Tokyo 2020. Source: sport-express.ru
If athletes do become infected when all the rules are observed, then isn't the Olympics turning into a theater of the absurd? Accidental infection, which most often does not affect the "combat effectiveness" of the athlete, puts an end to his many years of efforts. Not just perennials, for a considerable part of the Olympians, this is the real pinnacle of their careers. Added to this is constant nervousness - yesterday you were healthy, and today you are being sent to a ten-day quarantine. The slogan is more topical than ever:
"The important thing is not to win but to take part."
Now the division into covid-positive and covid-negative works at the stage of qualifying competitions. With a great deal of convention, infected athletes can survive this. And what will happen if, for example, a judo wrestler is found to have COVID-19 before the final fight? Will they give the coveted gold to the opponent, and undeserved silver to the infected? And what will the Olympic committee do in the event of an outbreak in the midst of a competition? Will he cancel the games in mid-sentence or will he spit on restrictions and continue? With this approach, it was better not to start the Olympiad at all. Perhaps the most prudent thing was the Guinean national team, which refused to participate in the games, citing a pandemic. The opinion of the majority of the Japanese also seemed reasonable - 40% of those polled are against the Olympics, and 38% vote for the postponement. The islanders can be understood, more than 20 thousand guests from all over the world arrived in the country for several weeks. It is time to fear the emergence of a new Olympic strain SARS-Cov-2.
Tokyo 2020 was preceded by nearly a year and a half of coronavirus restrictions. In different countries, lockdowns took place in different ways - somewhere it was completely tough, somewhere it was easier. Consequently, the athletes prepared for the competition, entered the form, so to speak, with unequal efficiency. Someone could not get to the gym for months, and someone had had a coronavirus with unobvious consequences. I won't be naive, there have always been different conditions for preparation and selection for the Olympics, but it was just before the Tokyo Games that they became most noticeable. The new motto of the Olympic movement, by the way, now sounds “Faster, higher, stronger - together”. Nice, but not together at all.
Source: hsmedia.ru
The situation with Russian athletes at the Tokyo Olympics is also sad. Too many "no" for one team. The flag is neutral, the tricolor is prohibited, national symbols such as the Russian bear are diligently erased, even Kalinka is prohibited at the performance of synchronized swimmers. It is forbidden to even call the national team Russian in Japan, only "the team of athletes of the Russian Olympic Committee." The national anthem is outlawed; Tchaikovsky will be his substitute in the event of an athlete's victory. Thank you for not Wagner. In general, this story with a frank division into "good" and "Russian" athletes with nostalgia recalls the times of the Soviet Union with the traditions of boycotting. Despite all this, Russia presented an impressive national team of 335 athletes to the games. Given the sanctions and unprecedented pressure, getting our medalists in the top three countries will be regarded as a feat.
Gender leapfrog
The Tokyo Olympics will be not only the first after the pandemic 2020, but also the most "progressive" in a certain sense of the word. For the first time in history, weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, who was ... a man until 34 years old, will take part in the games! Now Hubbard is 43 years old and she (or he) positions herself as a woman. The athlete did not perform gender reassignment surgery, but limited herself to hormonal therapy. It turns out that this has been possible since 2016 - the Olympic Committee has officially allowed such tricks. It is only necessary to artificially limit the level of testosterone. That is, with the proper level of desire, any man can compete on a par with women. It is only necessary to keep the level of the male sex hormone no more than 10 nanomoles per liter of blood during the year. According to Olympic officials, only this purely chemical feature is the difference between a man and a woman. In this case, the normal level of testosterone in a woman is no more than 2 units.
The woman weightlifter Lauren Hubbard, who is not a woman at all. Source: bbc.co.uk
Canadian football player Rebecca Quinn, who also qualified for the Olympics, on the contrary, cannot determine her gender. As a result, Quinn, who came out as a man, asks to address herself in the plural. But at competitions in Tokyo, the Canadian plays in the women's football team. A tactical ploy on the way to a big victory, you will not say anything.
Further more. A couple of years ago, South African runner Castor Semeni was refused entry to track and field races on a par with women. This is because the level of testosterone in the blood of the Seed is naturally too high, which seems to the officials from the sport a sign of a man's essence. The woman was offered either to compete with men from birth, or to sit on rigid hormone therapy. Fortunately, Semeni does not take part in the current Olympiad.
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