Three-time Olympic champion gymnast Kohei Uchimura wants the postponed Tokyo Olympics to happen next year, but he has also talked openly about the skepticism in Japan, where enthusiasm is muted by health risks, billions of dollars in taxpayer bills and questions over why the Games are a priority amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Polls over the past several months show that Japanese, and Japanese firms, are divided about holding the Games, or doubtful that they should be held at all.
“Unfortunately, 80 percent of Japanese don’t believe that the Tokyo Olympics can take place as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Uchimura said after a one-day exhibition gymnastics meet last weekend.
Postponed more than six months ago, the Olympics have been rescheduled to open on July 23, 2021.
Despite the public’s ambivalence, the International Olympic Committee and Japanese organizers have unwavering support from Japan’s ruling party and the Tokyo City Government.
The messaging is molded around the Games overcoming the odds — a heroic endeavor by Japan to lift global spirits, thanks to the Olympics.
Should Japan fail, Asian rival China would take the stage six months later with Beijing’s Winter Olympics, which are to open on Feb. 4, 2022.
However, there are fears of letting 15,400 Olympic and Paralympic athletes enter Japan, joined by tens of thousands of officials, coaches, VIPs and media — not to mention the possibility of allowing foreign fans to attend.
“We should be talking about whether the Games are something we should forge ahead with in this way,” Japanese Legislator Genki Sudo said.
Sudo, a former mixed martial artist, wrestler and kickboxer, said that the Olympics will not be fair to the athletes.
Some can practice, but many cannot because of the pandemic.
He even half-jokingly suggested that the Games should be held remotely, like a Zoom meeting.
“If the training environment is different, is that fair? It’s absolutely not fair,” Sudo said.
Tomoko Tamura, a lawmaker with the opposition Japanese Communist Party, wants to have the Olympics, but said that a safe vaccine might not come in time.
Organizers have said that they can hold the Games, vaccine or no vaccine.
Protesters have said that the Olympics have diverted billions from recovery efforts for the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster.
Tokyo organizers have said that they are officially spending US$12.6 billion to stage the Games, but a government audit last year said that the amount was likely twice that large.
All but US$5.6 billion is public money.
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