Tokyo Olympics ... [no foreign fans] [no fans period]

[lexvid]

A delay of a few days would give a chance for more athletes to test positive.

I'm waiting for the first reports of high profile athlete with gold medal aspirations to test positive. With so many unvaccinated, it may be a matter of when not if. Imagine Caleb Dressel, Simone Biles, or Trevon Bromell testing positive and missing out. Hope I'm wrong as we would be cheated from seeing the best each competition has to offer.

It would haunt me for a long time if it's because I objected to getting a little jab.

[CookyMonzta]

I'm waiting for the first reports of high profile athlete with gold medal aspirations to test positive. With so many unvaccinated, it may be a matter of when not if. Imagine Caleb Dressel, Simone Biles, or Trevon Bromell testing positive and missing out. Hope I'm wrong as we would be cheated from seeing the best each competition has to offer.

It would haunt me for a long time if it's because I objected to getting a little jab.

See my comment on P. 97. With the Delta variant being the dominant variant these days, it might not take much for one to get infected; and if somebody wanted to sabotage a top contender, they need only to get infected themselves and get close to their quarry. 💣

[Dave]

I'm waiting for the first reports of high profile athlete with gold medal aspirations to test positive. With so many unvaccinated, it may be a matter of when not if. Imagine Caleb Dressel, Simone Biles, or Trevon Bromell testing positive and missing out. Hope I'm wrong as we would be cheated from seeing the best each competition has to offer.

It would haunt me for a long time if it's because I objected to getting a little jab.

Color me judgemental, but anyone (in the US) at this point who hasn’t gotten their vaccine, barring a substantial medical reason, is being stupid and irresponsible.

[Conor Dary]

Color me judgemental, but anyone (in the US) at this point who hasn’t gotten their vaccine, barring a substantial medical reason, is being stupid and irresponsible.

Right...

[Conor Dary]

Meanwhile...at 9am local time..it is 87F, heat index of 94.

[KevinR]

I'm waiting for the first reports of high profile athlete with gold medal aspirations to test positive. With so many unvaccinated, it may be a matter of when not if. Imagine Caleb Dressel, Simone Biles, or Trevon Bromell testing positive and missing out. Hope I'm wrong as we would be cheated from seeing the best each competition has to offer.

It would haunt me for a long time if it's because I objected to getting a little jab.

Keep in mind that the vaccine does a great job preventing you from being infected, and an excellent job of preventing you from severe symptoms if you test positive. But you can STILL test positive for the virus. Breakthrough cases do occur, and I have a close family member who had one. Knocked her out for better than a week, despite being fully vaccinated.

So there is still a chance of being quarantined, I would imagine.

[18.99s]

I'm waiting for the first reports of high profile athlete with gold medal aspirations to test positive. With so many unvaccinated, it may be a matter of when not if.

It will happen sooner or later. When it happens, I hope the athlete will be somebody who deliberately chose not to get the vaccine, and not somebody who wanted the vaccine but couldn't get it due to insufficient availability in their country or genuine medical reasons.

[Conor Dary]

Behind the scenes at the COVID Olympics



For most residents of Tokyo, the only tangible thing they're getting from the Olympics is the bill, if not an increased risk of COVID.



https://www.axios.com/covid-olympics...848accba6.html

[Conor Dary]

Inside the dome: During the sweaty, muggy opening ceremony, a large protest outside was audible inside the largely empty Olympic Stadium — all the more so during a moment of silence to honor those lost to COVID and those killed during the 1972 Games in Munich.

• The roar was a reminder that polls consistently showed the people of Japan strongly opposed going ahead with the Games.

[Conor Dary]

The reality show Olympics

https://www.axios.com/reality-show-o...tml?deepdive=1

[lexvid]

The reality show Olympics

https://www.axios.com/reality-show-o...tml?deepdive=1

This website is brilliant.

https://www.axios.com/axios-momentiv...tml?deepdive=1

Eye opening

[runningforpi]

This website is brilliant.

https://www.axios.com/axios-momentiv...tml?deepdive=1

Eye opening

I know these Axios pieces are written from a US-centric perspective, but I would think that Usain Bolt is a bigger loss in terms of popularity than Michael Phelps. Also, Simone Biles is always going to be a bigger (Olympic) story than either Serena Willams or SCR.

[Conor Dary]

The first COVID-19 infection of an athlete at the Tokyo Olympics after competing has been confirmed, games organizers said Sunday, amid public concerns about the further spread of the coronavirus.

Dutch rower Finn Florijn tested positive for COVID-19 after competing in his heat at the Olympics on Friday, according to the organizers.

The 21-year-old, who had been staying at the athletes' village, forfeited Saturday's repechage race in single sculls and is self-isolating at a separate location.

The Olympic organizing committee said it is working to determine whether anyone has been in close contact with Florijn, who they previously said was unable to row for "medical reasons." A separate member of the Dutch rowing team, not an athlete, tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2...-19-cases.html

[Conor Dary]

NBC's broadcast of the Tokyo Olympic Games opening ceremony drew 16.7 million viewers, the smallest U.S. television audience for the event in the past 33 years, according to preliminary data from Comcast-owned NBCUniversal on Saturday.

Across all platforms, including NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app, 17 million people watched the ceremony, NBCUniversal said in an email.

The streaming audience on those platforms grew 76% from the 2018 PyeongChang opening ceremony and 72% from the 2016 Rio opener, reflecting a change in viewing habits.

Friday's audience reflects a steep drop, despite difficult comparisons with previous opening ceremonies when viewers had fewer streaming options.

The Tokyo opener TV audience declined 37% from 2016, when 26.5 million people watched the Rio de Janeiro Games opener, and 59% from 2012, when 40.7 million people watched the London ceremony.


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-tok...231950728.html

[NotDutra5]

I know these Axios pieces are written from a US-centric perspective, but I would think that Usain Bolt is a bigger loss in terms of popularity than Michael Phelps. Also, Simone Biles is always going to be a bigger (Olympic) story than either Serena Willams or SCR.

For NBC's coverage which is what the article is about and not any other network's coverage, Phelps is a monumentally bigger loss than Bolt. First is that he's American...although Bolt had transcended that a bit. Phelps was also on the TV every night for I believe 8 days. I also don't see Serena as any much of a large Olympic loss. Tennis has never been a featured Olympic event

They're also trying to play up Noah Lyles which I don't get. He's competing in what is a bit of a lesser T&F event....as compared to the 100m for instance....and it's towards the end of the program. If the 200m was at the beginning of the track schedule and he's on the 4x100m, NBC can spend a week pumping him up. That's not the case.