Is it wise to go ahead with the Olympics?

No, we’re still in the midst of the pandemic and holding the Olympics is too big a risk, especially with Japan’s low vaccination rate and the infection rate on the rise.

GrannyGravy13

Wimbledon is going ahead, mid June they are confirming the amount of tickets (if any) available for purchase.

Friends who had tickets (Sods Law, good ones!) for last year were given them for 2022!
I’m assuming numbers will be considerably restricted this year especially for the show courts as they provide cover.

Bigred18

But the jab wont stop anyone from getting Covid - only make symptoms less severe. So cancel the games.

Your statement is incorrect. Fully vaccinated people are very largely protected from catching the virus but a small percentage may still catch it, albeit being either symptomless or with less severe symptoms. The transmissibility of the disease from an infected but vaccinated person is still not fully known.

I'm glad I'm not the one having to make the decision as to whether they should be cancelled or not.

Not sure. Seems a bit unfair to the athletes when everything else is getting back.
It could be done, just on a smaller scale.

I think one of the problems for Japan is that their cancellation insurance only pays out if the Olympic committee cancel, so they are waiting on them

Nobody is being forced to go to watch these Games. For heavens sake, give these professional athletes a chance. Or do people want everyone just to stay in their own homes and area locked away for the foreseeable future.

I am very much looking forward to seeing these games from teh comfort of my living room (as I usually do - except kin 2012 when I was very much part of it). Most sports are back, albeit with strict conditions regarding spectators.

zero sense

I also have a very strong memory of how many people were saying what a dire failure the London Olympics were going to be in 2012. Many on the media were taken the mick our of it long before it started and every tiny problem was blown up to be a major catastrophy.
None of those every made any sort of apology, when these games turned out to be one of the most successful of all times, in terms of the visitors to London, etc, and the actual organisation and running of the games themselves.
Then, in 2016, there were many calls to cancell the Rio de Janiero Games, due to a very nasty bug that was causing serious illness to unborn babies and even for women who became pregnant sometime later. These went ahead, none of the athletes or visitors were infected. Again, no apologies from all the doomsayers.
Expect these Games will go ahead, successfully, although few spectators. None of the athletes will become ill either during or after the Games. No apologies will be received, yet again.
Will continue this discussion in August and September.

Only 4% of the Japanes population have been vaccinated against COVID and someone thinks it is a good idea to bring teams of people from nearly every country in the world, into this country to compete in different sports and inevitably come in contact with each other

I know there will be no spectators, I know that all the atheletes will have been quarantined and vaccinated, but it only needs one person, just one person, to slip through the net and infect somone Japanese, even though vaccinated, who goes home and passes it on to someone who hasn't been vaccinated for the Indian varient to be introduced to a largely unprotected population.

That anyone should think that the risk is worth taking for such trivial reasons, when the results could be tens of thousands dying, defeats me.

I don’t know what to think. Given that sport, to many including myself, is very uplifting I selfishly would like it to go ahead. Especially as so many people have trained so hard for it. It depends how safe it can be made I guess. As with lots of things regarding the pandemic sometimes even someone as careful and paranoid about the virus as I am can be swayed by personal feelings. I know I’m wrong in wanting it to go ahead.

Like Franbern I can't understand why Japan has not gone for a massive roll out of vaccination. They are usually so well organised. I read that the majority of the Japanese population don't want the games to go ahead.
I advocate getting things back to normal as soon as possible but in this case I'm really not sure.

No I think it’s very worrying that they are going ahead.

Elite sportsmen/women have been exempt from travel bans and have been at training camps and or competing here and overseas (UK were top of the medal table at the European swimming championships last week)

For clarity and fairness either all sporting events are cancelled or all continue (with limited or no spectators).

Competition at high level is what pays their mortgages it’s more than just sport it’s a big business and many people’s livelihoods are dependent upon the Olympics and other sporting events. Which in turn encourage / help sport at grassroots level.

I am conflicted as to what I think should happen.

The short answer is a resounding NO!

I’m ashamed to say that I don’t really know much about the geography of Japan but believe it’s made up of many islands so perhaps the events are being contained on small islands?

It's not often that I wholeheartedly agree with *lemongrove" but on this question I do. NO from me too.

A big fat NO.
Common sense surely.

In view of what's going on with Cummings and the PM at present, surely it has to be cancelled ? People going to Japan, returning back here and so it goes on. It doesn't make sense. Who would get the blame for deaths then ?

A resounding NO from me too . I don't understand why they weren't cancelled in the first place particularly as Japan has always been so far behind the curve vaccination wise. We're not interested in sport in any shape or form in fact we avidly avoid it. But I can see it would be disappointing for those who are.

And it's a no from me too.

Athletes may be disappointed - but other people are/have been disappointed too. I know you think they are a special case Fran but I think they are just people like the rest of us.

They may have lost their chance to perform - but millions will have lost loved ones and livelihoods as well as their hopes and dreams.

I read that more than 80% of the Japanese public are against the games going ahead.

My feeling is that it is very unwise to go ahead with any major sporting event or the various festivals that usually take place during the summer.

I appreciate that Japan will already have spent millions preparing for the Olympics and that many of the chosen athletes only have this one chance, but it still seems risky to me.

I have not heard what Edinburgh is doing about the festival and tattoo, or Salzburg or Bayreuth. These places and many others will be out of pocket if the events that usually earn them a good deal of their annual income cannot take place, but our first priority must be ending this pandemic.

I think the Olympics is now a big ego trip for professional athletes. It should revert to amateur status only so that everybody is on an equal footing.

No it shouldn’t go ahead this year.

No, definitely not.

Another no from me