2020 (2021) Summer Olympics in Tokyo

It looks so strange without spectators. I was just watching some gymnastics, and with the mostly empty arena it looks like just a practice session.
 
Yeah, the no crowds is kinda weird, but on the other hand I got used to that last year with major US sports
 
I'm mostly shocked they went ahead with the Olympics without spectators. It seems assured that these Olympics will end up being a financial disaster for Tokyo (moreso than normal). Still, I watched some field hockey last night and enjoyed it. And rowing the night before!

The sailing was a little choppy, and with a typhoon possibly coming - yikes.
 
I still enjoy watching it .. for the most part, sports that are fun (for me) to watch once every 4 years. For example, watching Egypt v Denmark in handball. Interesting game, looks like it would be fun to play, kinda fun to watch .. but will not watch it again until the next summer games
 
LooseCannon said:
I'm mostly shocked they went ahead with the Olympics without spectators. It seems assured that these Olympics will end up being a financial disaster for Tokyo (moreso than normal). Still, I watched some field hockey last night and enjoyed it. And rowing the night before!

The sailing was a little choppy, and with a typhoon possibly coming - yikes.
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The Olympics are a very weird event. It has a global focus, but much like the World Cup it hasn't always been the case. I believe in the first two modern day Olympics only about 14 nations participated. The first "global" olympics as we know them today were the Rome 1960 olympics, the very first time it was 100% televised for the whole world to see. This is when we started seeing The olympics serving a couple of purposes, the first being investing in infrastructure AND as a way to promote the city/country for tourism. However, Except for the L.A Olympics that really hasn't been the case.

The worst case being the recent Brazil Olympics and World Cup. The Athlete Villa is falling apart, stadiums are being used as landfills or parking lots or nothing at all. Much of the lose is in the building new arenas whether permanent or temporary and infrastructure such as expanding metro lines, airports and the like. Locals tend to take advantage of the expansion to public transit, but don't really take advantage of new hotels or sports venues. TV rights alone don't generate enough revenue.

So yeah, Tokyo is screwed. In fact, cities no longer bid for the Olympics, they are asigned, one of the reason the next ones will be in L.A... again.
 
Yeah, the excessive construction is an issue. One thing Tokyo probably has an advantage is that a fair amount of what they have built (permanent structures) can probably be used going forward. It is obviously a large and stable city that (pandemic times excepted) is already a huge destination. and already hosts many international events and has a very developed sports community across many sports, not to mention some massive corporate sponsors in the country. I imagine the biggest cost being the national stadium, but that was a pretty old facility that needed a refurb/replacement.

I think cities like Athens that are using the Olympics as a jumping point to build that are in trouble.

LA makes sense, they really have to build nothing. If anything they are in better shape than last time with new stadiums and arenas that have been build for other reasons since 1984
 
I think Tokyo would have been OK without the pandemic. They rebuilt their National Stadium, but that needed doing anyway. A new national aquatics centre, repurposed a landfill area as a park, similar things, but most of their structures are existing. LA will be the same, yeah.
 
I think for cities with less infrastructure for sports and to host something like the Olympics, why not make them more regional. I am not sure why they all need to be in one city. If you lump a few cities relatively close to one another, find 2 or 3 cities that already have (or already have plans on the books to build a new facility for other purposes) most of the needed facilities. Transportation being what it is now ... why have everything in one place?
 
That's what Milan is doing for the 2026 Winter Olympics - they're legitimately being held in the entire northern Italy region.
 
LooseCannon said:
That's what Milan is doing for the 2026 Winter Olympics - they're legitimately being held in the entire northern Italy region.
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Yeah .. you tend to see that more in the Winter games (skiing, etc need to be in a mountain) .. but think they could do more of that in the summer games
 
Onhell said:
The Olympics are a very weird event. It has a global focus, but much like the World Cup it hasn't always been the case. I believe in the first two modern day Olympics only about 14 nations participated. The first "global" olympics as we know them today were the Rome 1960 olympics, the very first time it was 100% televised for the whole world to see. This is when we started seeing The olympics serving a couple of purposes, the first being investing in infrastructure AND as a way to promote the city/country for tourism. However, Except for the L.A Olympics that really hasn't been the case.

The worst case being the recent Brazil Olympics and World Cup. The Athlete Villa is falling apart, stadiums are being used as landfills or parking lots or nothing at all. Much of the lose is in the building new arenas whether permanent or temporary and infrastructure such as expanding metro lines, airports and the like. Locals tend to take advantage of the expansion to public transit, but don't really take advantage of new hotels or sports venues. TV rights alone don't generate enough revenue.

So yeah, Tokyo is screwed. In fact, cities no longer bid for the Olympics, they are asigned, one of the reason the next ones will be in L.A... again.
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Generally agree with you, although there are a few cities and countries that managed to take advantage of the Olympics. Munich is one of them, they made good use of the Olympic compound afterwards and still benefit from the public transit expansion. I was also told by a guy with a South Korean wife that the 1988 Seoul games played a very important role in the democratisation of the country. But for every story like that, there's stories like Montreal or Rio, and it's been a while since there were games with a lasting, positive impact on their host. For decades now, the IOC has been nothing but a parasite making extraordinary demands of its hosts.
 
It was a good night for the good guys last night (Team Canada) - our first ever softball medal when we beat Mexico in the bronze medal game, a bronze in judo, a silver in the pool in 100m backstroke, and gold in women's weightlifting at 64kg. Not bad!
 
I hope to get two corroborating pieces. One says she didn't want to risk injury, another that she didn't want to have a meltdown and hurray for mental health, yet another says she wanted to give the youngins a chance, YET ANOTHER, said she did it to protest the IOC, because she was told she wouldn't be graded on some of her moves, because they were too difficult for other gymnasts to replicate. Finally bone just said all of the above.
 
Oooh, you forgot "she is the last competing survivor of the US Gymnastics sexual abuse scandal." I saw one piece on CNN's website with that angle.
 
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