by Max Allen
“While Tokyo, Japan has been tirelessly preparing for the thousands of eager athletes and fans, the new pandemic, COVID-19 (more commonly known as the coronavirus), is threatening Asia’s ability to host the games.” The previous line was written by Katie Compagnone back in 2020 when the pandemic first threatened the Summer Olympics as the unknowns of the virus caused the games to become postponed. Luckily, they have been officially declared to start Friday, July 23 of this year! The Paralympics opening date is also set for 2021 on August 24.
Tokyo, Japan put $12.6 billion into the 2020 Summer Olympics- that $12.6 billion has now turned into $15.4 billion due to COVID-19 modifications. With the safety of participants and guests in mind, the Olympic, Paralympic, and Tokyo Organizing Committee put together a playbook for all stakeholders, which would include athletes, media, officials, support, etc. According to Olympic.org, “in this first edition, stakeholders will find many of the standard and commonly accepted key health countermeasures currently being implemented around the globe relating to personal hygiene, testing, and tracing.” All stakeholders would be held accountable to follow these measures, that includes using smartphones to report health so that any potential outbreaks could be contained quickly. Each stakeholder group will have more tailored measures to follow but as of right now, only the first edition of the playbook has been approved and published. Further information is said to be released in April and June.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, there has been extensive research and resources put into understanding the virus. Enough has been done that the Olympic committees feel that they can safely continue with the plans for the 2020, now 2021 Summer Olympics.