Business Recorder Editorial March 27, 2020

Sports fallout

There is hardly any aspect of life that has not been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. It comes as no surprise then that sports, that flagship of competitive humanity, should also be affected. In recent days, a rash of cancellations and postponements of major world sports events and tournaments has been in evidence. But perhaps the biggest blow was delivered on March 24, 2020 when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics scheduled to be held July 24-August 9, 2020. The postponement decision had been on the cards for days if not weeks as the coronavirus pandemic rolled over the globe, inducing lockdowns in many countries worst affected and social distancing appeals in all the rest. Sports imply spectators, which implies crowds. That meant that such gatherings simply could not stand in the face of the fear that the coronavirus pandemic could spread through contact between players and players, players and fans, and spectators and spectators. Thus almost all major sports have announced cancellations and postponements of events and tournaments in recent days, a long list that includes football, cricket, tennis and others. Athletes and their respective national Olympics associations had been cogitating the viability of the Tokyo Olympics in the current situation for weeks. But the decision finally came after the IOC spoke to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and local organisers. The decision pushes forward the games, which will retain the Olympic flame already set alight in Fukushima without the usual attendance by athletes and spectators, to no later than summer 2021. The flame will be stored and remain in Fukushima until the new schedule of the Tokyo Olympics is announced. Putting a brave face on a devastating blow to Tokyo’s organisers of the event, who have already spent $ 28 billion on arrangements and completed so many stadia and sites well ahead of time, the IOC and Tokyo organisers agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present. One difficulty that looms in summer 2021 is that the World Athletics championships are scheduled for August 6-15, 2021 in Eugene, Oregon and the international federation of swimming has planned its world championships in Fukuoka, Japan on July 16-August 1, 2021. However, both bodies have agreed to show flexibility and reschedule if necessary to accommodate the Tokyo Olympics in a crowded international sports calendar.

Life, as so many have commented by now, seems unlikely to ever be the same again in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. In all aspects, work, personal, social, and yes, sports, things will have to be organised very differently than what has been the norm in the past. Even should the pandemic abate of its own accord combined with the precautionary measures the world is taking, or succumb to the discovery of a vaccine cure sometime in the near future, it seems bound to leave an indelible impression on human affairs across the board.