#Japanese people want no part of 2021 Olympics: poll

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Tokyo Olympics 2021
Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images

Amid alarming new cases of infection and concerns of a possible second coronavirus wave hitting Tokyo, fewer than one in four people in Japan want the Olympics to take place in 2021.

A recent Japanese survey released on Sunday has found that less than 24 percent of respondents are in favor of holding the Olympic and Paralympic games in the summer of 2021.

The three-day nationwide poll — conducted by the Kyodo news agency via phone last week — also found that 36.4 percent of the poll’s 1,041 respondents would support another delay, though the Olympic committee has made it clear that a second postponement isn’t feasible.

A cancellation, while devastating, would not be without precedent. The 1940 and 1944 games were all cancelled during World War II, with most of the original host countries — Japan, Germany, England and Italy — deeply invested in the war.

Nearly 34 percent of respondents would support cancelling the games outright, with many lacking confidence that the virus could be contained by its new slated start. About 13 percent of respondents said that the government should refocus efforts on controlling the virus’ spread in Japan, with 59 percent disapproving of the government’s handling of the situation thus far.

Even as the novel coronavirus pandemic ravaged mainland China and began to rapidly spread to many parts of the world at the beginning of the year, the International Olympic Committee, led by President Thomas Boch, was hesitant to cancel the event and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe remained steadfast that the games — which are reported to cost $12.6 billion — would take place in spite of international pleas.

With countries beginning to pull out of competition in protest and intense pressure from national Olympic committees and international sports federations, organizers eventually succumbed and postponed the event on March 24.

With a handful of professional sports now making cautious returns, the question of if the two-week event can take place on its rescheduled start date of July 24, 2021 is still very much up in the air. Holding an international event of such proportions would carry intrinsically higher risk (than a NBA or NHL tournament, for example), especially in light of countries’ varying infection rates, travel bans and safety protocols.

Last week, Bach said the games could offer a “unique” opportunity to be “the first worldwide gathering after coronavirus,” which of course, hinges on the assumption that the pandemic will have been contained by July 2021.