The Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony kicks off two weeks of athletic events that will be held in front of thousands of empty seats. The Games are a multinational showcase of the finest athletes of a world fragmented by the pandemic.
“It,” in this case, is the product that’s being packaged and sold, the commodity that has saved past Olympics when they’ve become mired in problems: the deep, intrinsic human attachment to the spectacle of sporting competition at the highest possible level.
As the sun set over the massive national stadium, a cool evening breeze tempered the blazing Tokyo heat. A stream of Olympics officials and journalists took up position, facing a cavernous space with a large, checkerboard field and thousands of empty seats. For now, however, it’s hard to miss how unusual these Games promise to be. The lovely national stadium can seem like an isolated militarized zone, surrounded by huge barricades. Roads around it are sealed and businesses closed.
“Sometimes people ask why the Olympics exist, and there are at least two answers. One is they are a peerless global showcase of the human spirit as it pertains to sport, and the other is they are a peerless global showcase of the human spirit as it pertains to aristocrats getting luxurious hotel rooms and generous per diems,” Bruce Arthur, a sports columnist for the Toronto Star, wrote recently.
“We will continue to try to have this dialogue with the Japanese people knowing we will not succeed 100%. That would be putting the bar too high,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “But we’re also confident that once the Japanese people see the Japanese athletes performing in these Olympic Games — hopefully successfully — that then the attitude will become less emotional.”
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