Under the shadow of the new Crown pneumonia epidemic, the International Sports Arena was completely shut down. The European Football Championship and the America Cup also announced a one-year delay, but another major event in 2020, the Tokyo Olympic Games, was still making final efforts.
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 18 (reporter Ji Ye, Ding Wenxian) under the shadow of the new Crown pneumonia epidemic, the international sports arena has been completely shut down, and the European Football Championship and the America Cup have also announced a one-year delay, but the Tokyo Olympics, another major event in 2020, is still making final efforts. It is the four destinies facing the Tokyo Olympic Games that are scheduled, open, postponed or canceled. Although the situation is developing in an unfavorable direction, the International Olympic Committee said in its latest announcement on the 17th that there is no need to make any decisions hastily when there are more than four months before the opening. For the huge Olympic Games, any decision will be made.
The two obstacles held as scheduled
insiders of the International Olympic Committee said that because the current epidemic situation could not be judged, before the last moment, all parties would definitely work towards the scheduled Holding, because no matter delayed or canceled, the impact is very great. This decision is not only a matter of sports, but also a matter of a country. Therefore, any statement is very difficult, and when to make a statement is also very difficult.
From the global pandemic of the epidemic to the cancellation of the torch relay in Greece, and then to the confirmed infection of the new coronavirus by the vice president of the Japanese Olympic Committee, kyoshiko Takashima…… On the 17th, the International Olympic Committee said for the first time that the epidemic was bringing impact to the Tokyo Olympic Games. The Tokyo Olympic organizing committee also admitted on the same day that the situation was “changing every hour”, but as of now, the statements of both sides have never changed-advance as planned!
If you want to hold it as scheduled, you will face two obstacles. The first is that the trend of the epidemic cannot be judged. IOC President Bach said that the health of all parties is their primary concern. However, against the background that global sports events have been canceled or postponed, the International Olympic Committee has been encouraging Olympic athletes to continue preparing for the war.
But this also leads to some different views. IOC member Haili Wiken Heyzer said bluntly that this is an irresponsible performance, because epidemic prevention and control is much more important than the Olympic Games. Meanwhile, the women pole vaulting champion of Rio Olympic Games and Greek athlete Catalina Stefani said that although looking forward to the Olympic Games, he still hopes that the Tokyo Olympic Games will have plan B so that they can adjust the training plan as soon as possible, reduce unnecessary risks. British women’s heptathlon world champion Catalina Johnson Thompson also said that the IOC’s position of encouraging to continue preparing for the war contradicted the suggestion of the local government to stay at home. Japan Kyodo News’s questionnaire to Japanese people also showed that 69.9 percent of respondents thought Tokyo could not hold the Olympic games as scheduled. The rapid spread of the epidemic in Europe and the United States has caused the Japanese to worry that “even if they continue to run the Olympics, they dare not let them come.
The second is that the qualifier cannot be held and athletes cannot obtain Olympic tickets through the competition. At present, 57 percent of the athletes in the Tokyo Olympic Games have obtained admission tickets, and the remaining 43 percent need to make necessary rule adjustments on the premise of ensuring fairness, all 33 major items of the Tokyo Olympic Games will be published in the revised version of the promotion rules in early April, which will be one of the main tasks of the International Olympic Committee and the international sports federation in the next half month.
Some of the remaining quotas will be determined by historical records and world rankings. If the Olympic threshold is lowered due to the failure of the qualifier, the issue of expanding quotas will be involved. The Olympic 2020 agenda stipulates that in order to control the scale, the maximum number of registered athletes in the Summer Olympics is 10500. Once the number of athletes increases, there is also a problem whether the Tokyo Olympic Games can bear it. This is why the International Olympic Committee clearly pointed out in the latest announcement that any issue involving the expansion of quotas must be analyzed with all parties including Tokyo Olympic organizing committee one by one.
The Dilemma of holding an empty field
if it cannot be held normally as scheduled, holding an empty field is an option, which can make up for the loss of broadcasters to some extent and reduce the risk of epidemic transmission at the same time. However, athletes and coaches in judo, wrestling, three big-ball sports and other events will also have physical contact and gathering, which is also not conducive to epidemic prevention. However, the biggest problem in the empty game is that it loses the essential element of the Olympic Games-the competition atmosphere.
Olympic marketing revenue mainly comes from broadcasting, sponsorship, tickets and authorization, etc. According to the data of the official website of the International Olympic Committee, broadcasting revenue ranked first, accounting for 73% of the total revenue of the organization from 2013 to 2016, however, only 18% of the Olympic Global Partners (TOP) gathered in the world’s TOP companies accounted for sponsored program. Thus it can be seen that the broadcaster plays an important role in the Olympic movement.
The game is empty, and the broadcaster’s plan will basically not be disturbed. However, in the empty venues, the performance of athletes is inevitably affected. At the same time, the empty market will also damage the ticket income of Tokyo Olympic organizing committee to some extent.
Whether it is normal or empty, athletes and delegations need to deal with it flexibly. John Coates, vice president of the International Olympic Committee and chairman of the Tokyo Olympic Games Coordination Committee, praised the active response of some national and regional Olympic committees, adopting totally closed management to prevent epidemic input, and then directly transported to Japan to participate in the Olympic Games.
Postpone or cancel,
more than 20 days ago, when IOC member Dick Pound threw out the judgment that “the threat of the epidemic before the end of May cannot be eliminated, and the Tokyo Olympic Games may be canceled, many people think it is alarmist. After all, at that time, who had not announced the pandemic, and many people did not realize the power of the virus. Moreover, the event of “canceling the Summer Olympic Games” only happened three times in the Olympic history for more than a hundred years, all because of the war. Even if the virus broke out in Brazil in 2016, the Rio Olympics was held as scheduled.
Although the International Olympic Committee has repeatedly stressed that it is more than four months before the opening, it is not necessary to make any decision hastily, and any speculation will backfire. But at this moment, as the epidemic continues to spread around the world, people’s panic is intensifying. Presumably, the International Olympic Committee is also paying close attention to assessing the possible delay or cancellation.
Both the European Football Championship and the America Cup are postponed for one year. Several members of the executive committee of Tokyo Olympic organizing committee have agreed to the plan proposed by member Gao Qiao Zhi to postpone the Olympic Games for one to two years. Although the IOC has the final decision, they will definitely refer to the opinions of Japan.
If the Tokyo Olympic Games are postponed, in principle, it is necessary to give a time for re-opening, because the next series of preparation work needs to reverse the construction period according to the new time. The new opening time must ensure that the epidemic will be effectively controlled at that time. If it is evaluated, the Olympic Games cannot be held within this year, and it can only be postponed until next year or even the next year, the Olympic Charter needs to be revised first. Because according to the general Constitution of the Olympic movement, the Summer Olympics should be held in the first year of the Olympic cycle, that is to say, the Tokyo Olympic Games can only be held in 202020. However, if all parties can reach an agreement on the extension, these institutional obstacles should be solved.
Secondly, the international sports arena has formed its own competition system for a long time. Many of them are already normal. Once they change, they will lose. If it is postponed to the summer of 2021, the world swimming championships and the world track and field championships were originally scheduled to be held at that time, which are the two most important events in the Olympic Games, therefore, it is difficult for the Olympic Games to conflict with these two individual competitions. 2022 is also the year of sports, including Beijing Winter Olympics, football World Cup, Summer Youth Olympic Games in Davos and Hangzhou Asian Games.
Third, the relevant preparatory work changes brought about by the extension are extremely complicated. Because before, such as sports, venues and infrastructure, media operation, charge card, accommodation, arrival, transportation, registration and other Olympic preparation business fields were all promoted according to the original plan, if delayed, A series of problems and even disputes including contract performance will arise.
Pound, who has been a member of the International Olympic Committee for 40 years, believes that cancellation is the most realistic choice. Because the delay will break the careful operation of the international sports event system, involving a large number of participating countries and athletes, seasonal climate changes, season conflicts with different projects, conflicts with the annual program planning of broadcasters, etc. However, if this extreme result is really canceled, all stakeholders will suffer heavy losses at the economic and influence levels.
For “fresh” athletes, if they miss the Olympic Games which may be “once in a lifetime”, it will also be a lifelong regret. For the audience who are going to watch the match on the spot, they are also waiting for the final decision, so as to update the schedule as soon as possible.
The International Olympic Committee is cautious about the final decision, which is also to ensure the safest final result. As Bach said, “We are the Olympic family, and we support each other in good times and bad times.”
Last week, the torch collection ceremony of Tokyo Olympic Games was held in Athens, Greece. The torch full of ritual feeling made many people sigh that the Olympic spirit is so precious under such a dilemma facing the world. There is hope that we will not give up. If the epidemic is controlled as soon as possible and Tokyo Olympics cauldron is lit as scheduled on July 24 this year, how breathtaking moment it will be!