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July 18, 2021 By: Karl Wimer

Cartoon: Japan’s 2021 Olympics nightmare scenario

The MJ COVID variant: When things really go wrong for the Japan Olympics

Not sure if there has ever been an Olympics as beset as the upcoming 2021 Olympics in Japan. Even during the boycotted Olympics of 1980 and 1984, there was a sense of solidity that guaranteed fans at events.

First postponed during the heart of the pandemic in 2020, it’s been a huge waiting game to see if the summer of 2021 would work for the Olympic Games. The arrival of vaccines in the beginning of the year made it possible. But when the host country struggled to get its hands on enough vaccines, it put its own population is at serious risk (it seems the countries that have overseen the bulk of vaccine production get first dibs, and Japan wasn’t one of those).

Thus, instead of the revised plan of limited international fans at events, the Japan government and the Olympic ruling body recently changed that back to only limited attendance with local fans.

Two things regarding this. It will be interesting to spot wealthy or influential international fans who somehow (money? politics?) end up in the stands cheering on their nations. Second, how will they fake crowds and deal with empty stands to deliver a “true” Olympic experience for television? Stand up cutouts? Fake crowd noise?

Testing of athletes and quarantines will require a daily watch to see which nations have the advantage. And we can only guess about the ripple effect that a positive test might have for an entire discipline, or entire nations, or even dormitories.

Add to this giant headache the ever-present fallout of drug testing. Once again (surprise, surprise), the Putin-directed Russian Olympic team will not be attending under their nation’s tainted banner. Gross performance-enhancing abuses (with an abundance of proof of meddling from the very top) should have made many of those athletes ineligible for any team, but corruption continues to beleaguer watchdog efforts to manage a more level playing field for all athletes.

The United States has had its share of athletes caught for cheating in the past, like track athletes Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin. This go around sprinter and gold medal favorite Sha’Carri Richardson tested positive for cannabis and was subsequently banned. Much has been made about whether marijuana should be classified as performance enhancing, but Richardson took full responsibility for her suspension. “I know what I did, I know what I’m supposed to do, I’m allowed not to do and I still made that decision.”

Similar to the COVID-related issues we can expect to see, don’t be surprised when more of the “MJ” (now more common in recreational use than ever) rears its head in interesting ways during this Olympic season.