The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are a troubled event.
It seems as if we have been waiting for them forever and a day. But they really should have been pushed back another year to 2022. … I guess the IOC takes the revenues from selling the TV rights, so it does not really care much if the host city (which gets the ticket sale proceeds) cannot allow spectators, or ends up with a public health crisis. If a few people die along the way, well, too bad, so sad. People died building the Golden Gate Bridge and other wonders of the world too. Isn’t the glory of the Olympics (and the gold … not the medals, the money) worth it?
So instead of a second postponement, we have a “no fun Olympics” -- an Olympics where no foreign visitors are allowed, no spectators can enter the venues, there is no chance to get selfies in Shibuya with athletes who are out and about seeing the sights after their event ends. No opportunities for cultural exchange, for the kinds of experiences I have heard people talk about from other Olympics. And, of course, the Prefecture of Tokyo will suffer under the debt burden for years, even decades. And many Japan-based businesses will bleed red ink, even face bankruptcy.
Of course, the Olympics has faced challenges in the past. In 2012 in London, many English were disappointed when they all (at least everyone I know) entered the Olympic ticket lottery and came up empty, or with at best one random event about which they knew nothing. (Japan’s ticket lottery was pretty much the same, based upon my unscientific survey). But in London, once the Games got going, many people changed their minds and enjoyed the experience (again, based upon my unscientific survey). The 2012 Olympics (and Paralympics) were perhaps the best thing to happen to London in the past decade or more, despite the commercialization and corruption.
But we are in a pandemic still. Tokyo entered a 4th “state of emergency declaration” earlier in July, and Covid-19 cases are steadily growing. On Wednesday, July 29, just 6 days after the opening ceremony, there were over 3800 new Covid-19 cases confirmed, a record for Tokyo, up from around 1150 two weeks earlier, 1800 one week earlier. Even worse, the Covid-19 PCR test positivity rate has soared from 5.1% a month ago to 18.0% -- levels never seen before in Japan. So things will probably get worse before they get better.
Thus, we face a very strong tension between (1) people enjoying the Olympics, and (2) avoiding a big disaster and an increase in deaths from Covid-19. No spectators are allowed in events in Tokyo. There is no public viewing on jumbo screens in public parks. Restaurants close at 8PM and do not serve alcohol (though many seem to be ignoring that request after the government was caught strong-arming financial institutions to cut off those who did not follow the "guidance" and their suppliers, and needed to back down). The athletes are like prisoners in the Olympic village, like ancient Roman gladiators who are let out only to compete, and who must leave the country two days after their last event. (Okay, perhaps that is a bit of an exaggeration.) Anyway, it is the #nofunolympics.
Fortunately, road cycling events are about as Covid-19 safe as imaginable.
Ireland reports that 0.1% of its Covid-19 cases have been transmitted outdoors. New South Wales, Australia, reports no confirmed cases of outdoor transmission. The original pandemic in Wuhan, China, saw only a single case of outdoor transmission – between two people who were talking to each other outside without moving for more than 20 minutes.
Further, I am now fully vaccinated so, although the recent news about the Delta variant is distressing, at least I am better off, less likely to get infected (or pass on infection), much less likely to get sick or die, than I was two months back.
So I could not help but get caught up in some of the Olympic excitement as I watched Strava and saw many of the world's top cyclists recording training rides from Gotemba. Even if there are no spectators allowed in any of the Tokyo venues ... surely a cycling road race along a 235 km course with which I am quite familiar would offer safe viewing opportunities?
My Olympic cycling experience involved the following:
(5) a very long day (leaving home 430AM, returning 1130PM) to ride to/from Hiratsuka (62km each way) and then trains to/from Gotemba, and shuttle buses to/from Fuji Speedway,
to watch the women's and men's time trials.
I had a great time. The races were spectacular. Watching the Olympians ride, even train, they looked like an entirely different species than the cyclists I am usually with and that we see riding on weekends around Tokyo -- so smooth, graceful, and fast. These events inspired me to ride more, and to come up with some new cycling goals for next year and beyond.
I will post some photos or videos from each of these experiences as linked above. If you want race commentary, I have been enjoying, and highly recommend, Chris Horner's "The Butterfly Effect" on youtube. He can explain better than I how each of the road races and the time trials developed.
