![]() ![]() Morning after morning, the country woke up to spellbinding stories of Team GB medals, a new generation of stars, an array of inspiring performances, and innovative new sports and mixed gender formats that captured the imagination. In Britain, despite the unhelpful time difference, fears of images of empty venues, and a troubled build-up to the event, many have loved watching it, and will remember these Olympics as a classic. The endless rules, restrictions and daily testing, along with the constant fear of being 'pinged' and sent away for two weeks' isolation ensured a highly anxious and stressful Games, for athletes, officials, and the media.īut just as Rio emerged as an iconic Games despite the many challenges it faced, the sense is that, once again, the athletes have come to the rescue of Tokyo 2020. Having experienced the vibrant, joyous atmospheres at London 2012 and Rio 2016, and more recently the crowds allowed at the Euros earlier this summer, covering an Olympics without spectators made for a very strange experience.Įach visit to a venue without fans was inevitably accompanied by questions over what might have been, and where else the billions lavished on these Games could have been spent. It will be hard to find a more potent image of the pandemic age.īut in what was effectively a made-for-TV event, the contrast between the experiences of those of us on the ground here, and viewers watching on from afar has rarely felt so stark. Reporting on the opening ceremony - traditionally one of the world's great shared experiences - in Tokyo's stunning but empty National Stadium, with the athletes' parade depleted, sponsors missing, a noisy protest by campaigners outside, and local people locked out of their own £12bn party, was among the saddest and most surreal experiences I can recall. The Sports Desk podcast: Has Biles changed the game on mental health?.These Games raised major questions for the International Olympic Committee in particular, and it will be some time before the wisdom of its decision to press on with the Olympics can be properly evaluated. A gamble that has paid off.īut at the same time, rarely before has the judgement and motives of the organisers been under such scrutiny. ![]() By others, as a powerful symbol of sport's defiance and the hosts' resilience. Given those challenges, the fact this event was completed at all, and provided so many special moments, will be viewed by some as a minor miracle. The first such event to be staged since the start of the pandemic, the first to take place amid a state of emergency, and the only one to be stripped of spectators. Regardless of the undoubted sporting drama that has unfolded here over the last 17 days, it will always be the Covid Olympics.
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