Most Japanese say postpone or cancel the Olympics as COVID surges

FAN Editor

Tokyo — More than 80% of people in Japan who were surveyed in two polls in the last few days say the Tokyo Olympics should be canceled or postponed, or say they believe the Olympics will not take place. The polls were conducted by the Japanese news agency Kyodo and TBS — the Tokyo Broadcasting System.
 
The results are bad news for Tokyo organizers and the International Olympic Committee as they continue to say the postponed Olympics will open on July 23.
 
Tokyo is battling a surge of COVID-19 cases that prompted the national government last week to call a state of emergency. In declaring the emergency, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said he was confident the Olympics would be held.
 
Japan has controlled the coronavirus relatively well but the surge has heightened skepticism about the need for the Olympics and the danger of potentially bringing 15,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes into the country.

How athletes are preparing for 2021 Olympics 02:48

The Olympics could also attract tens of thousands of coaches, judges, officials, VIPs, sponsors, media and broadcasters. It is not clear if fans from abroad will be allowed, or if local fans will attend events.
 
Japan has attributed about 3,800 deaths to COVID-19 in a country of 126 million.
 
The TBS poll asked if the Olympics can be held. In the telephone survey with 1,261 responding, 81% replied “no” with only 13% answering “yes.” The “no” responses increased 18 percentage points from a similar survey in December.
 
In Kyodo’s poll, 80.1% of respondents in a telephone survey said the Olympics should be canceled or rescheduled. The same question in December found 63% calling for cancellation or postponement.
 
Kyodo said the survey covered 715 randomly selected households with eligible voters. Neither poll listed a margin of error.

OLY-2020-2021-TOKYO
Olympic Rings are seen near the National Stadium, the main venue for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, January 8, 2021, as Tokyo Olympics organizers insisted that the coronavirus-postponed Games will still go ahead despite Japan declaring a state of emergency less than 200 days before the opening ceremony. BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty

Japan is officially spending $15.4 billion  to hold the Olympics, although several government audits show the number is about $25 billion. All but $6.7 billion is public money.
 
The Switzerland-based IOC earns 91% of its income from selling broadcast rights and sponsorships.
 
The American network NBC agreed in 2011 to a $4.38 billion contract with the IOC to broadcast four Olympics through the Tokyo Games. In 2014 it agreed to pay an added $7.75 billion for six more games — Winter and Summer — through 2032.

Free America Network Articles

Leave a Reply

Next Post

Searing questions persist about lax Capitol security on day of riot

Despite ample warnings about pro-Trump demonstrations in Washington, U.S. Capitol Police didn’t bolster staffing on Wednesday and made no preparations for the possibility that the planned protests could escalate into a massive violent riot, according to several people briefed on law enforcement’s response. The revelations shed new light on why […]