The Tokyo 2020 Olympics

The past Friday marked the start of the latest Olympic games which are taking place in Tokyo, Japan. I don’t know if it’s because I was unable to watch the opening ceremony that I feel much less involved in the Olympics this year. I am not particularly a ‘sporty’ person but like most people the Olympics manages to draw me in and like most people I find my self – obviously – rooting for my country. However, this year I seem far less bothered about it than normal.

The Olympics already had some trouble recently, most obviously seen by the fact that the Olympics is still using 2020 as the date when it is indeed 2021. Numerous events have been cancelled as a result of Covid and the Olympics inevitably felt like just another one of these. Hopefully 2020 will simply go down as a year of disaster and won’t have such a hold on us, as it feels like it does right now. But there does seem to be a clear lack of significant enthusiasm for the Olympics currently. I suppose a lot of comparisons that I make is between any other Olympics and the London 2012 Olympics, which are still so clear in my mind.

London 2012 felt more significant because it was in my home country and so there was a lot of buzz and a gradual build up of anticipation throughout the year until the summer [notably the summer before I moved to high-school]. I also remember enjoying the London 2012 opening ceremony a lot, most likely because it made references to British culture, which I was able to enjoy and pick up on more easily. As a result, 2012 seems like the best comparison I can make to determine how well the Olympics is being received. This is perhaps slightly misconstrued as the idea of hosting the Olympics in different countries is so that country’s culture is televised and made more public and it is so important to be more aware of other countries cultures. So it is clearly a mistake for me to be drawing comparisons with 2012 especially when you consider the fact that Great Britain did a lot better in the Rio 2016 Olympics than 2012 but I can’t help the bias I hold towards it.

As a result of my summer job I was unable to watch the Tokyo opening ceremony, some might say I could have watched it on repeat or the highlights but what I am trying to get across is that I have not felt any desire to do so. Surely this says something about my enthusiasm for Tokyo 2020. I am perhaps only speaking for my self in this lack of enthusiasm but I do think many people share the same sentiment as me. Like the Euro 2020s, the Olympics holds the possibility of bringing the country together and giving us a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel [after Covid]. However, I am not sure how will this is going to be achieved. It seems that there is a lot less interest in these games and some of the athletes have been pulling out of their events [well enough of them for it to be mentioned]. Perhaps this is because the Euro 2020s seemed a lot more significant, particularly for England as their success was historic. However, the success of Great Britain so far has been arguably mediocre.

Of course, the Olympics has only just begun and there is room for Great Britain to flourish still but it is whether the Olympics manages to keep hold of the public imagination that might determine this success. Particularly when you consider the fact that Covid restrictions have prevented larges numbers of crowds from watching the events. Whilst I think this is an admirable precautionary step – I was outraged by the crowds at the Euros – it must be disconcerting for the athletes. Surely, they thrive on the buzz of the crowd and the adrenaline they get from performing under pressure in front of a large audience. It must be immensely hard for them to compete to their best ability under these more than unusual circumstances. Especially for those who are competing in their first Olympic games, they are not experiencing it completely. Similarly, if this is an athletes last Olympic games it must feel very disheartening as they are not going out with as much of a bang and have not been able to feel the thrill of the crowd.

Essentially my argument is that the current Olympic games does not feel exciting this time around. Perhaps I am the only person who feels this way, if so then I will eat my words but there is definitely something lacking about it. I think the athletes might feel the same way, particularly in regard to the lack of the crowds. However they will obviously still want to achieve success during these games, of course they do. I hope that the atmosphere around the games picks up, as well as my enthusiasm as I admittedly feel somewhat unpatriotic about my current feelings.