The Olympic Games have come and gone for another four years, and Brazil must be applauded for putting on a good show. Many thought that it may be beyond the South American country to pull it off. However, the first Olympic Games in the southern hemisphere outside of Australia, and the first Olympic Games in South America, should be labelled a success. There were concerns about finance, whether the preparations would be completed in time, the Zika virus and crime, but as the sport spectacle progressed these were soon forgotten.
Tokyo has big shoes to fill in 2020. Tokyo also has more to worry about as it prepares for its second Olympic Games.
There are many like me that believe the money that has been used so far to get the Games to Tokyo, and the money that is going to be spent in the future may have been better used. There are still people living in temporary housing since the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and consequent tsunami more than five years ago. These people could have been re-housed with the amount of money spent on the bid to have the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The same goes for the victims of the earthquake in Kumamoto, and more recently, all those affected by the destructive typhoons that have created so much devastation over the past month. All the reconstruction work in Fukushima and surrounding areas, and in Kumamoto is now pulling to a halt as all equipment and workers are now required in Tokyo to build what is required for Games of the xxxII Olympiad.
Other concerns for Tokyo include clearing their ‘clean’ bid. Only Japan has investigated the questionable ‘donations’ and declared that there were no bribes. It might be interesting to hear what an independent body may find and conclude. The Japan Olympic Committee (JOC) now must continue work with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), a body that some say is more corrupt than FIFA – peas in pod? Though with Japan’s freedom of the press ranking at number 72 in the world, dropping 11 positions this year to be between Tanzania and Lesotho, I feel sure that we will only hear the good news. The doping crisis, boxing refereeing, and remembering to include a cauldron for the Olympic flame in the main stadium design, which in part will be made of wood, are some other concerns for the JOC.
After watching some events from the Olympic Games this year, and noticing some discrepancies and inequities across some sports, I feel that there may be some other issues that the JOC, and IOC, may need to address as they continue to tweak at the Olympic Games to find the best recipe for success, and try to make everyone happy.
One of the IOC’s criteria for selecting a sport to be a part of the Olympic Games is gender equity. If so, then why is there no men’s synchronised swimming or men’s rhythmic gymnastics? There are sports such as judo and wrestling that award two bronze medals. Why isn’t every athlete that comes in in third and fourth place given a bronze medal? National anthems are played at the medal ceremonies, after the game/performance is said and done. However, I recall that the national anthems for the soccer¹ teams that fought it out for the gold medal, were played before the game/performance began, allowing the national anthem of the runner-up to be heard as well. Do these not seem inequitable?
¹ The author is Australian, and in Australia the term football generally refers to Australian Rules Football. I have taken the liberty to use my native jargon and refer to association football here as soccer.
Ramblings and Ruminations 