Editorial | Despite the pandemic, world can be proud of these Olympic Games
- Tokyo 2020 is a landmark example to a world trying to maintain normal life in uncharted territory
Tokyo went ahead with the Olympic Games, against domestic public opinion and expert medical advice, as the coronavirus pandemic raged around the world. This newspaper added its misgivings to a global clamour of concern about the possible consequences. In hindsight, if we had that time over again, we would express them again, in the interests of global health.
Last night’s closing ceremony ended a controversial chapter of Olympic history which, hopefully, will never be repeated. That said, Tokyo has all but pulled off an unlikely triumph. It seems to have confounded the worst fears of an outbreak, although we do not know for sure yet as athletes return home.
It would be mean-spirited now not to say congratulations to the Tokyo organising committee, the International Olympic Committee and Japan for a job well done in unimaginably difficult circumstances.
About 11,000 athletes achieved the shared goal of Olympic competition for which they had trained for years under trying conditions, providing morale-boosting relief from pandemic gloom for a global television audience. They performed in empty stadiums and venues, without the support of family, friends and fans forced to stay at home.
Other safety measures set these Games even further apart, with social-distancing, rules, daily Covid-19 testing, hugs and high-fives discouraged, and medal winners collecting them along with bouquets from trays and put them around their own necks.