One of the biggest questions among the sports world during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic was what would happen to the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. The first obvious step was a delay in the games past the summer of 2020, with many people questioning whether the games should still happen in the first place. However, as time has went on and with more and more vaccines being rolled out, the decision to still hold the games in 2021 has been made. Even though many citizens in the home country of Japan are opposed to the games being held, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the government of Japan have decided to still host the games, mainly due to the sunk costs that have gone into building the stadiums for the games. This decision has led to even more questions regarding the safety of the athletes and people of Tokyo and also how the immigration of athletes into the country would occur with the different Covid-19 travel restrictions set by countries participating.
This years Olympic Games will look very different than any other Olympic Games previously with many new policies set in place to try to combat Covid-19. One such policy is the exclusion of any international fan due to the policies of Japan. Even with these policies, the Olympics are still bound to have positive tests with the first positive test appearing this past Friday on June 19th.
One of the coaches of the Ugandan Olympic team has tested positive for the coronavirus and is now not being allowed entry to Japan for the Olympic Games. All members of this team were fully vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, even though the country only has a 2% vaccination rate currently. How the IOC plans to handle this positive case will provide an example to other countries on how they plan to address the challenges that come with hosting a multinational sporting event during a global pandemic. Furthermore, it also demonstrates the immigration issues that arise when trying to coordinate a large gathering of many different countries with differing Covid-19 restrictions in place.
Even with positive tests and many Covid-19 cases occurring, it is highly unlikely that the games would be cancelled. The economic repercussions that would occur for a cancelled Olympics would be devastating for both the IOC and Japan, which is why nothing short of war would cancel the games. It will be interesting to see how the IOC handles these immigration issues going forward.
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