Could you believe that the Olympics Won’t be taking place this summer? Yeah! It’s heartbreaking as a clash between the Japanese organizers and the International Olympic Committee over the recompense of millions due to postponing Olympics 2020 is heating up amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Most Important Thing in The Olympic Games is Not Winning But Participating; The Essential Thing in Life is Not Conquering But Fighting Well.”
Well, this is not the first time when the Olympic Games are postponed. The curse has been following the event for a century and today, we will discuss some amazing facts about the Olympic games and the depletion of medals and million dollars due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With Japan’s announcement that the Tokyo Olympics 2020 will be postponed over the expansion of COVID-19, here’s a throwback at 1916 Berlin, Tokyo 1949 and London 1944 — when political turmoil forced the Olympics to be discarded.
1) Games of The VI Olympiad, Berlin 1916
At this time, when Germany was bleeding amid World War One, though ‘The Deutsches Stadion’ where the games were supposed to happen, started construction in 1912 and opened in 1913 with 60,000 people at the opening ceremony.
The International Olympic Committee awarded the sixth Olympic games in Berlin in a meeting in Stockholm in July 1912. Since then the series of complexities started taking place amid successful orientation of the 1916 Olympics. The major games on the card included athletics, wrestling, fencing, shooting, modern pentathlon, cycling, gymnastics, swimming, rowing, hockey and golf. And women were introduced to international sport events for the first time in VI Olympics. However, things changed rapidly and just after two-days of test events in the newly constructed german stadium, Archduke Frank Ferdinand of Austria along with his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo. This assassination started a chain of such events that ignited the fire of World War One and led to the postponement of 1916 Olympic Games.
2) Games of the XIII Olympiad, Tokyo 1940
Replicating the way IOC officials framed Tokyo Olympics 2020 as “Recovery of Olympics” in order to pay off the devastating 2011 earthquake-tsunami, Tokyo was stuck in the same situation after 1923s catastrophic earthquake. Things were settled in the right manner until there was a war between China and Japan that led the Tokyo Olympics 1940 along with the winter games to be postponed. But, it was cancelled due to the outbreak of WWII.
3) London Olympics 1944
Despite the warning of the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill “Gathering Storm” over the European countries due to Nazi Germany, the officials of the International Olympic Committee met with leaders on July 1939 to decide the venue of the London Olympics after ponsponement of Tokyo Olympics 1940. However, it was thrown back under the threat of World War Two, but London hosted 1948 games that were known as “Austerity Games” in which none of Germany and Japan were invited to participate.
As of now, Tokyo Olympics 2020 in which all 206 IOC recognized states were participating, including Australian teams featuring two games other than athletics, has been postponed to 2021 due to coronavirus outbreak. Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister said the Tokyo Olympics are cursed as the Olympic Games are postponed for the second time in Tokyo. Japan tried to host the Olympics in 1940 but the second world war forced cancellation of both summer and winter games. This is the first time when an international event has been cancelled due to pandemic otherwise wars have only cancelled the Olympics.
There is no wonder in saying that the cancellation of the Tokyo Olympics 2020 will cost more than just the financial loss. It would have cost years of hard preparation for games as many new players were excited to hoist their national flag and represent their nation internationally. Many dreams of scoring the highest medal count would have been scrapped with the announcement of the delay in the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
If we talk about the monetary loss to Japan due to the postponement of the Olympic Games then it would be around 640 billion Japanese yen. This is such a massive sum that Japan has lost due to postponement of Tokyo Olympics 2020 to 2021 and could you just imagine how much the cancellation of the games will cost Japan? It was estimated to be 4.5 trillion Japanese yen in case the IOC cancels Tokyo Olympics 2021. From tourism to broadcasting the Olympics, it was a great sum of money that fell into Japan’s pocket but halted due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Though the 2020 Olympics are now officially postponed, there are so many questions that remain unanswered. Here’s a look back at the situation that occurred in the aftermath of the Tokyo Olympics 2020 postponement.
1) How Tokyo Olympics 2020 Postponement Affects the Athletes?
Older athletes who were planning to end their career after summer games 2020 will face the most unpredictability. 34-years old star athlete Allyson Felix will have to undergo another year of bone-stench all out training. And many others who were preparing to break the ground will be disappointed including Ryan Lochte from the U.S. who were planning to become the oldest swimmer in the history, then there would be Monica Abbott, Shiva Kesham, Jagdish Singh, a freestyle runner from India, Kerri Walsh, who had never lost a game, and many others who worked hard to play. On the other hand, there would have been some young talents to be introduced during this event. Now, they will have to wait for a year.
2) What About the Athletes Who Were Qualified for the 2020 Olympics?
At this time of postponement up to 78% Americans were already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. The International Olympic Committee and Paralympic Committee, said in a video conference that players who qualified would still likely qualify but they didn’t say it officially. Coronavirus outbreak can change so many things this year.
If we talk about the economical ramifications then the situation is very clear because Japan has spent $12B or $25B on infrastructure, advertisement and other preparations. The country is losing a million dollars every hour as Japan’s minister has said The 2020 Olympics are cursed. However, everything is our lives right now as the pandemic is soaring.
