Alex Christoforou
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
“It’s a problem that’s happened every 40 years – it’s the cursed Olympics – and that’s a fact.”
Update (1400ET): USA Swimming’s CEO is urging the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to push for the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics until next year.
Tim Hinchey wrote to USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland on Friday to advocate on behalf of his governing body’s 400,000 members.
Hinchey said athletes’ worlds have been turned “upside down” as they struggle to find ways to continue preparing and training for the games. He wrote that “pressing forward amidst the global health crisis this summer is not the answer.”
Because of the disruptions in training, Hinchey said going ahead with the Olympics this year “calls into question the authenticity of a level playing field for all.”
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First, the cancellation in 1940 because of WWII. Then, the boycott in Moscow in 1980. Now a virus crisis in 2020... confirming the forty-year cycle that disrupts the Olympics.
Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso told the parliamentary committee on Wednesday that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is “cursed,” reported Reuters.
Aso said an ominous forty-year cycle disrupts the world’s major sporting events. It started back in 1940 when Japan was preparing to host the summer and winter Olympics, but then the onset of WWII led to the cancellation.
Forty years later, in 1980, many countries boycotted the Olympics in Moscow as a protest against the Soviet Union’s war in Afghanistan.
“It’s a problem that’s happened every 40 years – it’s the cursed Olympics – and that’s a fact,” Aso said.
Now the outbreak of COVID-19 could postpone the 2020 Olympics.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga stressed on Wednesday that Tokyo still intends to host the Summer Games despite the fast-spreading virus terrorizing the world.
Suga is working closely with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to make sure the Games will go ahead as scheduled, starting on July 24 and continuing through August 9.
“We’re not making any adjustments to postpone the Games,” Suga told parliament.
His comments come after deputy head of Japan’s Olympics Committee Kozo Tashima, who is also the president of Japan’s Football Association, tested positive for the virus.
Dozens of Olympic qualifier matches were suspended this week as top officials say the show must go on.
We noted earlier this week that the Spanish Olympic Committee is recommending that the games be delayed.
As of Thursday afternoon, Japan has 924 COVID-19 confirmed cases, with 29 deaths, and 150 people have recovered. Even if the pandemic curve is to flatten in the country by summer, the risk is other countries sending athletes from areas where the outbreak is still hard-hitting, could create another health crisis.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/forty-year-curse-strikes-tokyo-olympics
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
If the Olympics are delayed, this will be a chance for Russia to clear all of its athletes from suspected doping by WADA. They will have more time to prove they are not guilty.
Talk about self-delusion.
The FIX is in. Whether it be with the DNC, the JIT, the OPCW, WADA, the Assange trial or a dozen other western constructs, make no mistake. The FIX has fixed it good.
“Because of the disruptions in training, Hinchey said going ahead with the Olympics this year “calls into question the authenticity of a level playing field for all.”
I thought WADA already destroyed that concept. Is Hinchey designed as a sort of comic relief during an epidemic?
TASS: Tokyo Olympics to be postponed if impossible to be held in complete way, says Abe — Abe noted that the International Olympic Committee takes the related decision, adding that the issue of cancellation of the Games is not on the agenda now TOKYO, March 23. /TASS/. The option of postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games set to be held in Tokyo this summer is possible if it is difficult to hold the Games as usual, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a parliamentary session on Monday. “[The position of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)] is in line with… Read more »
TASS: Japan ready to postpone Tokyo Olympics by one year — paper — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will hold a phone conversation with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach on Tuesday to discuss the Tokyo games — TOKYO, March 24. /TASS/. Japan is ready to give its consent to postponing the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for up to one year due to the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak, the Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported on Tuesday citing government sources. According to the paper, it would be problematic to delay the event for two years, because in this case it will be… Read more »