The Tokyo Olympics are currently scheduled for July 23 to August 8 2021. Here is a quote from Eventing Nation on the current situation .
Olympic officials have released Playbooks outlining Covid protocol for Athletes, International Federations, Press, and Broadcasters. It remains the intent of the Olympic organizing committee to proceed with the Games despite a surge in cases in Tokyo and a decline in public approval of the Games. Organizers have also stated that a vaccine will not be required of athletes; vaccine distribution in Japan is scheduled to begin this month.
Eventing Nation
Will there be spectators? That is uncertain . The official playbook does state that athletes will be required to have a negative Covid test 72 hours before they leave their home country. Depending on where that home country is the athlete may have another test on arrival in Tokyo. They must provide a list of all people they will have close contact with during the Games. The athletes specific playbook for their sport will detail how they will spend their first 14 days in Tokyo. They may be required to have Covid testing during the Games. Specific rules will apply depending on the sport the athlete is competing in. Here is an image from the playbook. It is worth zooming in to see the All The Time recommendations as well as the other boxes.
I can understand that for many athletes Tokyo may be their last chance at an Olympics. For some equestrians their horse maybe to old for the next Olympics. For athletes in many other sports, the athlete may be too old to keep up the rigors of training for those intervening years. But is it worth the possibility of getting Covid? What if the athlete gets Covid and then ends up with the Long Haul Covid effects that leave hearts and lungs damaged. That will bring any athletic dream to an end.
Recently there were problems in Melbourne with the Australian Open Tennis Championship. Players, from all over the world, had to do a quarantine. Many did not have access to a tennis court to maintain their game fitness. Among arrivals in Melbourne two players tested positive for Covid and 72 players had to be notified as they had been in close contact. How will this sort of thing play out at the Olympics?
The people of Tokyo and Japan are not keen on having the Olympics. But a lot of money is already spent on the facilities. Would cancelling the Olympics be a loss of face for the Japanese Olympic Committee? How many athletes, all over the world, are training and trying to find qualifying competitions in order to make a team? In Canada there are now very strict restrictions on entering the country. This is proving to be a problem for getting judges in to meet the International judge requirements for the qualifying competitions in Dressage that were scheduled for this spring.
What do you think should happen? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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