Tokyo Olympics could happen in July 2021, amid major protests

In early March 2020, the WHO (world health organization) declared covid-19 a pandemic. Since the pandemic started fifteen months ago, there are three countries that have experienced the most cases. The three countries are the United States, India, and Brazil. Japan stands at #34 in the number of covid-19 cases, according to worldometers.info website. The Tokyo Olympics are scheduled from July 23, 2021 to 8-8-2021. The Olympics were canceled in 2020, due to the coronavirus disease outbreak. Even though Japan stands at #34, protests were held in Tokyo to cancel the summer Olympics last month. The Covid-19 pandemic is continuing to worsen in Japan. Shockingly, the country has fully vaccinated about 2-3% of its population. The final decision about the Olympic Games is a high-stakes game of chicken, between Japan and the International Olympic Committee. The Japanese government has the upper hand, above the IOC (International Olympic Committee). IOC member Dick Pound told a magazine that the event would take place, even if Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga asked that it be canceled. In contrast, Suga retorted that the Olympics would not take place if 80% of the Japanese population wanted the games to be canceled. Four new sports will be making their Olympic debut: Karate, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing. Baseball and softball are returning to the Olympic program, after previously being cut. The city of Tokyo is thirteen hours ahead of New York City, and 16 hours ahead of Los Angeles. This time difference means that the games will not happen live in the US, unless it is at 1 am in USA. NBCUniversal will air close to 7,000 hours of Olympic coverage on TV, and streaming video. Furthermore, NBC will use two broadcast networks; six cable networks; and multiple streaming platforms to show the global games in Tokyo. The Olympic games will have 41 sporting events. NBC will show popular competitions, including the USA men’s basketball team’s chase for a 16th gold medal, women’s basketball, women’s soccer, swimming and gymnastics. More than 5,000 hours will stream on NBColympics.com. The cable sports network, NBCSN; will broadcast more than 440 hours and USA Network will broadcast more than 380 hours. Frankly, it will be super hard to watch all that olympic coverage. In this penultimate paragraph, the protests will be discussed further. The IOC has determined that athletes cannot protest inside stadiums, during ceremonies or at podiums during the Olympic Games. The protest ban will be in place when athletes are inside stadiums, at ceremonies, and on podiums. At least 10,000 volunteers dropped out of participating in the Olympics, which is likely due to fears of contracting COVID-19. IOC experts believe that at least 80 percent of athletes and resident of Olympic Village will be fully vaccinated, by 7-23-2021. Also, the Olmpic games may take place without Japanese fans. In closing, the fans from other countries have been barred from attending the Olympic games. Without the fans from any country, the games will be less exciting to watch. Viewership may be quite lower than usual, in TV ratings for NBC and other worldwide networks. A recent Associated Press poll claimed that 60-80% of Japanese respondents want the games called off. More than 15,000 athletes from 200 countries are slated to travel to Japan for the games. Lets hope for better health conditions in Japan with Covid-19, if the games are to happen.