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

[gh]

Australia aiming to vaccinate athletes before Tokyo Games
]

I wouldn't be all that surprised to see the Japanese/IOC mandate such a requirement for all entering athletes.

[Tuariki]

I wouldn't be all that surprised to see the Japanese/IOC mandate such a requirement for all entering athletes.

That would be the commonsense and logical thing to do.
And probably the only chance of the Games going ahead.

[bambam1729]

https://twitter.com/insidethegames/s...75778025246720 - Hungary has started vaccinating their athletes.

[Conor Dary]

No Plan B: Japan's sponsors shelve ads as mood sours over Olympics


TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan’s Olympic sponsors are scaling back advertising campaigns and delaying marketing events for this year’s Summer Games, concerned that public sentiment toward the event is souring amid a fresh wave of COVID-19.

https://www.reuters.com/article/olym...-idUSKBN29Y0OT

[Tuariki]

No Plan B: Japan's sponsors shelve ads as mood sours over Olympics


TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan’s Olympic sponsors are scaling back advertising campaigns and delaying marketing events for this year’s Summer Games, concerned that public sentiment toward the event is souring amid a fresh wave of COVID-19.

https://www.reuters.com/article/olym...-idUSKBN29Y0OT

Once the money goes, then things inevitably start shutting down

[Conor Dary]

Exactly....anyways who needs the Olympics when the real global competition is for vaccines....

[Conor Dary]

Meanwhile....

According to a report from Fox Business, representatives from the International Olympic Committee have met with Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis regarding the possibility of Florida taking over as hosts of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The Games were originally scheduled for the summer of 2020 but were pushed back a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting between the IOC and Patronis comes a few days after the state originally put forth the idea of taking over the Games from Tokyo. The offer came following a number of conflicting reports, some suggesting the Games would go ahead and some suggesting that they were to be canceled.

Discussing his meeting with the IOC, Patronis explained that “the Olympics are in a tough place – 80% of the Japanese people do not want the games to move forward.” Patronis is referencing two recent polls conducted in early January by Japanese news agency Kyodo and the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS). Said polls indicated the low level of support for the Games from Japanese citizens.

“I know the Olympics want Japan,” he said. “I’m just concerned Japan doesn’t want the Olympics.”


https://swimswam.com/ioc-and-florida...2020-olympics/

[guru]

As a practical matter Florida does not have an Olympic-sized velodrome. Brian Piccolo Park is 333.3m. Olympic track must be 250m

[wamego relays champ]

I'm sure there are many more obvious practical matters like that one which is what makes this such a harebrained idea. I'm surprised if the IOC really did take a meeting with Patronis.

[bambam1729]

As a practical matter Florida does not have an Olympic-sized velodrome. Brian Piccolo Park is 333.3m. Olympic track must be 250m

That has been the rules set by the UCI, but I can tell you from conversations I've had with them that the IOC is now much more flexible about venues, because of the difficulty they've had in finding host cities.

And the IOC has staunchly denied that anyone there had a meeting with the Florida politico. They also said they never received a letter from him.

[Atticus]

And the IOC has staunchly denied that anyone there had a meeting with the Florida politico.

Smart . . . Deny, Lie, Obfuscate, Counter-accuse!

[NotDutra5]

That has been the rules set by the UCI, but I can tell you from conversations I've had with them that the IOC is now much more flexible about venues, because of the difficulty they've had in finding host cities.

And the IOC has staunchly denied that anyone there had a meeting with the Florida politico. They also said they never received a letter from him.

The state leaders are likely simply attempting to broadcast that the state is open for business. It is how the state has tried to present itself for many months.....for better or worse.

[Atticus]

The state leaders are likely simply attempting to broadcast that the state is open for business. It is how the state has tried to present itself for many months.....for better or worse.

Tourist dollar$ are sacrosanct. We gotta look open for bidnis.

[Conor Dary]

Japan’s pharmaceutical industry is huge. But it was left behind in race to get vaccines to Japanese citizens.

Japan is the only nation in the Group of Seven economic powers still waiting to start vaccinations, but it is not alone among wealthy nations. Australia and South Korea are among nations still waiting to start vaccine programs.

It is not expected to begin giving Pfizer jabs to health workers for at least another month.

This month, the government was forced to declare a second state of emergency in Tokyo amid a surge in infections. Negotiations with vaccine makers were accelerated, and senior cabinet minister Taro Kono was appointed to oversee the vaccination process on Jan. 18.

But the optimism about the vaccination timetable — and about the Olympics — has largely evaporated, thanks to a combination of Japan’s testing requirements and predictable bottlenecks in global supplies.

On Thursday, Kono said he hoped to begin vaccinations for those over 65 years old on April 1 at the earliest, and hoped to finish by the third week of June. But he said he did not know when vaccines would be available for the rest of the general public.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...524_story.html

[Conor Dary]

“In Japan, the atmosphere is very important. And we have an atmosphere that the vaccines are very dangerous, risky, and you don’t want to touch them,” said Kentaro Iwata, an infectious-disease expert at Kobe University.


“Unless you change this atmosphere into a positive atmosphere that the vaccine is good for your health, people will be very hesitant to come to the clinic,” he added.