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As someone tangentially attached to the sports community, the olympics is already a bit screwed up anyway, simply because the sports seasons (and thus the quali

As someone tangentially attached to the sports community, the olympics is already a bit screwed up anyway, simply because the sports seasons (and thus the qualification pathway) for many events in the games have been significantly disrupted by the coronavirus. Many athletes who were in touching distance of qualifying will not be able to, and other athletes will be sent in their stead (if it happens at all) Olympic qualification in most sports is extremely complicated, and this is having a serious effect. That being said, sport is not so important (imho) that public safety should be put at risk, and cancelling the games (or postponing them) would seem a sensible option if things continue to get worse.

koheripbal 7y ago
I think it's already a certainty that it's going to be cancelled - they are just trying to lighten the blow by telling people they're just "considering it".
jfkebwjsbx 7y ago
It is not your humble opinion. Sports are just entertainment nowadays. Lowest priority.
- skrebbel 7y ago
  What a strange way to say "I agree".
- JumpCrisscross 7y ago
  > Sports are just entertainment nowadays As opposed to when they were military training in Ancient Greece?
- artsyca 7y ago
  People don't really have their own opinions we are just collections of ideas picked up and regurgitated
  - andreilys 7y ago
    Yes but someone out there is generating these original opinions that then get picked up by others.
    - artsyca 7y ago
      It's turtles all the way down bro
- yunruse 7y ago
  You’re not wrong, but you have a bit of a dismal look at it. Sports, like other forms of entertainment, are a sign of culture, and culture is the touchstone of a good workforce. Just like it’s important to take short breaks in the office, even small amounts of entertainment is important to keep us happy and focused. Large events, such as the Olympics and Oscars, give a pattern to the years, something to talk about and look forward to. They provide cohesion and fraternity. The Olympics staying up isn’t a higher priority than health, but it’s a mighty sign of things going wrong when they’re not being hosted. Plus, y’know, a lot of problems have been solved, so these kind of events provide jobs and boost local and global economies.
  - jfkebwjsbx 7y ago
    To be honest, I have never seen sports as "culture". Neither the Oscars. They are just PR events in this day and age. By the way, hosting the Olympics does not boost the local economy. Quite the opposite, in fact, at least in many cases. They are a heavy loss and increase in debt for almost every city that did it, as well as detrimental for the environment overall. Governments do it as a long term investment in publicity.
    - unethical_ban 7y ago
      Well there is the big difference - you don't see sports as culture. What is culture to you?
      - jfkebwjsbx 7y ago
        Education, science, art, "enlightenment"... Giving awards in a posh ceremony to commercial movies and running very fast for a medal does not sound like any of those to me. Yes, sports are a very big deal in many countries. Fancy social gatherings too. Neither means necessarily "culture".
    - obmelvin 7y ago
      > To be honest, I have never seen sports as "culture". As always it is extremely important to remember that your culture is not everyones' culture!!! You may not view sports as any sort of culture and as far as I'm concerned that's totally fine. But I would say that I feel connected to running "culture", and I dare you to try telling an Italian 'ultra' (soccer super fan) that their sport is not part of their culture ;)
hrktb 7y ago
The dumb part of all of this is how the gov. and the IOC handled the summer olympics up to this point. For instance there was the discussion around the marathon, where runners would be at serious risk when running outdoors in the middle of the summer in Tokyo. Yet it took months and months of discussions, stupid alternatives (including "let's change Tokyo's time during the Olympics so the marathon starts at the planned time, but it would actually be super early morning when the sun is still low") to finally move it to a place where people won't be dying. The current administration is well above caring for public safety, but we can hope the international outcry will be huge enough of a threat to force their hand. [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2020-marathon-idUSKBN1WV1DA https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2020-marathon-id...]
- gph 7y ago
  I have to imagine the heat/humidity is just as bad in places like LA/Atlanta that have previously hosted the summer olympics. Did they just not care about heatstroke back then?
  - gamblor956 7y ago
    LA is quite dry in the summer. Atlanta does get humid, but not nearly as bad as Tokyo does.
  - hrktb 7y ago
    Yes, and they ran the Atlanta one at 7AM. That was also the plan at some point for Tokyo. There was a Doha marathon ran this year at midnight, still running at around 30°C and needing crazy heat counter measures to be runnable. It was their test drive to see if the same setup would work for Tokyo, but it appeared the Doha marathon was still a hell to run so they gave up and moved the location to somewhere cooler.

koheripbal 7y ago

I think it's already a certainty that it's going to be cancelled - they are just trying to lighten the blow by telling people they're just "considering it".

jfkebwjsbx 7y ago

It is not your humble opinion. Sports are just entertainment nowadays. Lowest priority.

skrebbel 7y ago
What a strange way to say "I agree".
JumpCrisscross 7y ago
> Sports are just entertainment nowadays As opposed to when they were military training in Ancient Greece?
artsyca 7y ago
People don't really have their own opinions we are just collections of ideas picked up and regurgitated
- andreilys 7y ago
  Yes but someone out there is generating these original opinions that then get picked up by others.
  - artsyca 7y ago
    It's turtles all the way down bro
yunruse 7y ago
You’re not wrong, but you have a bit of a dismal look at it. Sports, like other forms of entertainment, are a sign of culture, and culture is the touchstone of a good workforce. Just like it’s important to take short breaks in the office, even small amounts of entertainment is important to keep us happy and focused. Large events, such as the Olympics and Oscars, give a pattern to the years, something to talk about and look forward to. They provide cohesion and fraternity. The Olympics staying up isn’t a higher priority than health, but it’s a mighty sign of things going wrong when they’re not being hosted. Plus, y’know, a lot of problems have been solved, so these kind of events provide jobs and boost local and global economies.
- jfkebwjsbx 7y ago
  To be honest, I have never seen sports as "culture". Neither the Oscars. They are just PR events in this day and age. By the way, hosting the Olympics does not boost the local economy. Quite the opposite, in fact, at least in many cases. They are a heavy loss and increase in debt for almost every city that did it, as well as detrimental for the environment overall. Governments do it as a long term investment in publicity.
  - unethical_ban 7y ago
    Well there is the big difference - you don't see sports as culture. What is culture to you?
    - jfkebwjsbx 7y ago
      Education, science, art, "enlightenment"... Giving awards in a posh ceremony to commercial movies and running very fast for a medal does not sound like any of those to me. Yes, sports are a very big deal in many countries. Fancy social gatherings too. Neither means necessarily "culture".
  - obmelvin 7y ago
    > To be honest, I have never seen sports as "culture". As always it is extremely important to remember that your culture is not everyones' culture!!! You may not view sports as any sort of culture and as far as I'm concerned that's totally fine. But I would say that I feel connected to running "culture", and I dare you to try telling an Italian 'ultra' (soccer super fan) that their sport is not part of their culture ;)

hrktb 7y ago

The dumb part of all of this is how the gov. and the IOC handled the summer olympics up to this point. For instance there was the discussion around the marathon, where runners would be at serious risk when running outdoors in the middle of the summer in Tokyo. Yet it took months and months of discussions, stupid alternatives (including "let's change Tokyo's time during the Olympics so the marathon starts at the planned time, but it would actually be super early morning when the sun is still low") to finally move it to a place where people won't be dying. The current administration is well above caring for public safety, but we can hope the international outcry will be huge enough of a threat to force their hand. [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2020-marathon-idUSKBN1WV1DA https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2020-marathon-id...]

gph 7y ago
I have to imagine the heat/humidity is just as bad in places like LA/Atlanta that have previously hosted the summer olympics. Did they just not care about heatstroke back then?
- gamblor956 7y ago
  LA is quite dry in the summer. Atlanta does get humid, but not nearly as bad as Tokyo does.
- hrktb 7y ago
  Yes, and they ran the Atlanta one at 7AM. That was also the plan at some point for Tokyo. There was a Doha marathon ran this year at midnight, still running at around 30°C and needing crazy heat counter measures to be runnable. It was their test drive to see if the same setup would work for Tokyo, but it appeared the Doha marathon was still a hell to run so they gave up and moved the location to somewhere cooler.