Before you guys get carried away thinking Tokyo is a "go"...

[ironhammer]

Tokyo Olympics Organizing Committee are saying the Tokyo Olympics can still be cancelled at the last minute if there is a sudden spike in Covid cases:


edition.cnn.com/2021/07/20/sport/tokyo-2020-olympic-bubble-broken-spt-intl/index.html


Most likely a PR move to placate domestic Japanese voters (who don't want the Olympics) that they note their concern. Not really a serious move with the IOC in town I think. Then again...maybe not. Keep your fingers crossed guys, the Olympics is not a sure thing yet.

[trojansc]

We're 8 hours away from the first pitch between Japan and Australia softball. Nobody should rule out any cancellations or potential COVID issues.

I mean, up until the Gold Medal Match itself of Women's Volleyball, there should be finger crossing to make sure everything is a 'go'. But we're closer and more certain the Olympics will happen than ever. There is much more reason to be optimistic than pessimistic.

[ironhammer]

Jul 20, 2021 11:02:47 GMT -5 trojansc said:

We're 8 hours away from the first pitch between Japan and Australia softball. Nobody should rule out any cancellations or potential COVID issues.

I mean, up until the Gold Medal Match itself of Women's Volleyball, there should be finger crossing to make sure everything is a 'go'. But we're closer and more certain the Olympics will happen than ever. There is much more reason to be optimistic than pessimistic.

Hope you are right. Personally I won't feel too complacent or comfortable until the gold medal game takes place. 

[itsallrelative]

Let's have all of the athletes travel to Tokyo, then cancel the Olympics?

isn't most of the risk in traveling and the villages?

They have made a decision by bringing the athletes there....cancelling now would be the worst of all possible decisions.

[eazy]

Jul 20, 2021 12:58:12 GMT -5 itsallrelative said:

Let's have all of the athletes travel to Tokyo, then cancel the Olympics?

isn't most of the risk in traveling and the villages?

They have made a decision by bringing the athletes there....cancelling now would be the worst of all possible decisions.

Think about it this way.. If they bring everyone there but then cancel, a few people may be exposed during travel. If they let the whole thing go on despite a spike, countless more people will be exposed and it will be more likely to spread back to workers and their families. 

I'm not saying any of that is likely, but it sure sounds like you're looking at it from the perspective of an outsider that wants to watch the games. Try thinking about it from the perspective of someone who lives in one of those cities, or has a family member volunteering. 

[trojansc]

Jul 20, 2021 14:54:02 GMT -5 eazy said:

Jul 20, 2021 12:58:12 GMT -5 itsallrelative said:

Let's have all of the athletes travel to Tokyo, then cancel the Olympics?

isn't most of the risk in traveling and the villages?

They have made a decision by bringing the athletes there....cancelling now would be the worst of all possible decisions.

Think about it this way.. If they bring everyone there but then cancel, a few people may be exposed during travel. If they let the whole thing go on despite a spike, countless more people will be exposed and it will be more likely to spread back to workers and their families. 

I'm not saying any of that is likely, but it sure sounds like you're looking at it from the perspective of an outsider that wants to watch the games. Try thinking about it from the perspective of someone who lives in one of those cities, or has a family member volunteering. 

I actually thought 'cancelling now would be the worst of all possible decisions' was looking at it from a financial perspective.

[CAI BIN MUST GO]

Jul 20, 2021 11:28:51 GMT -5 ironhammer said:

Jul 20, 2021 11:02:47 GMT -5 trojansc said:

We're 8 hours away from the first pitch between Japan and Australia softball. Nobody should rule out any cancellations or potential COVID issues.

I mean, up until the Gold Medal Match itself of Women's Volleyball, there should be finger crossing to make sure everything is a 'go'. But we're closer and more certain the Olympics will happen than ever. There is much more reason to be optimistic than pessimistic.

Hope you are right. Personally I won't feel too complacent or comfortable until the gold medal game takes place. 

imagine if the finalists both test positive and we end up with a tie for the first two places

[ironhammer]

Jul 20, 2021 17:20:13 GMT -5 CAI BIN MUST GO said:

Jul 20, 2021 11:28:51 GMT -5 ironhammer said:

Hope you are right. Personally I won't feel too complacent or comfortable until the gold medal game takes place. 

imagine if the finalists both test positive and we end up with a tie for the first two places

Oh man, imagine that.

But on the bright side, to put this Olympics in perspective, all Olympics have have their quirks and hiccups. I remember the press was saying Athens was going to be a total mess because of unfinished facilities leading up to the games. But they managed to pull it off. Rio had a lot of bad press from the crime and pollution, but the city did pull off the Rio games. So while right now things don't look so great for Tokyo, the Olympics might also manage to make it work in this case, somehow:


slate.com/culture/2021/07/pre-olympics-bummers.html?via=rss_socialflow_facebook&fbclid=IwAR1eccW_3-o5MeYp51AQQoCvjuRhBoXoak60G876tJCbctT-PgKFzxNnI9Q

some perspective is also warranted: Bad vibes are more or less the norm in the lead-up to the Olympics.

Six weeks before the Athens Games in 2004, the New York Times reported that the main facilities were “still construction sites,” and raised fears of a terrorist attack. In the runup to the 2008 Olympics, the coverage was heavily focused on human rights protests, construction worker deaths, and air pollution. The London games in 2012 overcame construction delays security scares, and public opposition.

Before the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, smart-ass American journalists snarked about the decision to hold the games in a “subtropical gangster’s paradise.” The world’s media gawked at photos of half-finished hotels, trash-strewn streets and stray dogs when they weren’t focusing on more serious concerns about corruption and the Russia’s discrimination against LGBTQ people. The lead-up to the Rio Olympics in 2016 included a long-list of problems: construction delays, polluted water, crime and safety, doping scandals, human rights violations, the Zika virus.

In all these cases, the issues didn’t go away but the bad press dissipated pretty quickly once the sprinters were off the block or the skiers were out of the starting gate. If the unfortunate peace doves who were roasted in the flame at the opening ceremony in Seoul in 1988 weren’t enough of a bad omen to kill the Olympic mood, I’m not sure what would be.

[Deleted]

Jul 20, 2021 17:20:13 GMT -5 CAI BIN MUST GO said:

Jul 20, 2021 11:28:51 GMT -5 ironhammer said:

Hope you are right. Personally I won't feel too complacent or comfortable until the gold medal game takes place. 

imagine if the finalists both test positive and we end up with a tie for the first two places

not for volleyball 

"In Volleyball, if a team is unable to compete due to COVID-19 the team will not be disqualified and will be marked as DNS.

In case the team qualified for the quarterfinals, the team will be replaced by the highest ranked team from the respective pool of the preliminary round. In case the team qualified for the semi-final, the respective losing quarterfinalist will take their place. In case one of the two teams playing in the final can no longer compete due to COVID-19 the team is replaced by the respective losing semi-finalist."

[akbar]

It's hitting hard

[Ons Jabeur]

I am waiting for the volleyball to begin

[tamz]

3 sleeps to go !