Light On, Nobody Home<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe Olympic flame arrived in Japan two days ago with little of the pomp and circumstance that usually accompanies such an event \u2013 and no crowds to welcome it.<\/p>\n
Ironically the flame, is a symbol of continuity — between the ancient and modern games — but on Friday, it seemed to symbolize a country in denial, one that has spent seven years and billions of dollars preparing for the event.<\/p>\n
Officially, Japan will spend $12.6 billion to organize the Olympics, although a recent national audit put the real figure at twice that. Postponement will undoubtedly see costs rise further.<\/p>\n
But Former IOC marketing director Michael Payne told the AP<\/em> Sunday that the delay might just work out for Japan, creating an Olympics that will be remembered forever.<\/p>\n\u201cWhat better platform is there going to be than the Olympic Games when the world has pulled through the virus,\u201d he asked. \u201cYou\u2019ve got a dynamic that will be even more powerful for Japan and the rest of the world. But you are going to have a tough road getting there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be postponed until 2021 because of coronavirus, International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Dick Pound told USA Today Monday. The news comes 24 hours after the IOC announced for the first time that postponement could be in the cards. The IOC has faced increasing pressure from athletes, international sports federations, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":130878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Tokyo 2020 on Verge of Postponement as Canada, Australia Pull Out<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n