Opinion / Olympics 2020: can sports’ oldest brand survive the furore? Staging the Tokyo summer games despite widespread Covid-19 fears could damage the 100-year-old event forever

Jul 22 , 2021

A general view of the Olympic Rings installed on a floating platform with the Rainbow Bridge in the background in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, on June 21, 2021. Photo: Reuters

Dating back millennia to Ancient Greece, the first modern games were in Athens in 1896 – but perhaps no sports event has proved as controversial as Tokyo 2020

With 85 per cent of locals ‘concerned’ about staging the spectacle amid surging Covid-19 cases, might the ‘world’s first luxury brand’ end up damaged forever?

This article is part of STYLE’s Inside Luxury Column.

The Olympic Games is the greatest sporting event in the world, with millions ordinarily flocking into stadiums and billions tuning in from every corner of the Earth. Every four years the summer (and winter) games act to define the future of the host cities, with billions of dollars invested in infrastructure and the entire world taking notes. In the realm of international sports, there is nothing bigger, more extreme, more admired ... or more desired. And this makes the Olympics similar to a luxury brand.

Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka training at Tokyo’s Ariake Tennis Park ahead of the summer games. Photo: Reuters

For athletes, it’s the ultimate crowning of a career. Someone may be a world champion, but winning the Olympics – only possible at the peak of fitness, once every four years – is the ultimate recognition. If the training schedule and performance are not at their peak precisely when the games take place, a lifetime of training may never yield the ultimate goal: the Olympic gold medal.

Members of the US swimming team arrive for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Japan’s Narita International Airport on July 14, 2021. Photo: AFP

But as this year’s Olympics are about to start, Japan is facing surging Covid-19 rates that mean the games will be held without spectators. But the show must go on.

In the months leading up to the delayed Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (like Euro 2020, still bearing the name of its original planned year), the sentiment in Japan shifted, with many asking to delay or cancel the games altogether. In the end, and with October elections getting closer, the decision was made to hold the games no matter what. One of the most critical aspects of financing the games are selling the TV rights all over the world, and those at least won’t be affected by empty stadiums.

The Olympic rings lit up at dusk on the Odaiba waterfront in Tokyo – where public sentiment is increasingly against staging the games this summer amid soaring coronavirus figures. Photo: AFP