Tokyo Olympics postponed, is it compromise or helplessness?

China News Agency, Beijing, March 25th: The Tokyo Olympic Games is postponed. Is it compromise or helplessness?

China News Agency reporter Xing Ye

A message on the 24th shocked the world sports. First, the Japanese media said that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a telephone talk with International Olympic Committee President Bach to agree on the policy of extending the Tokyo Olympics by about one year. Subsequently, the IOC announced on its official website that the two sides agreed that the 32nd Olympic Games in Tokyo would need to be rescheduled to 2020, but not later than the summer of 2021.

On March 23, local time, with the Tokyo Olympic Games originally scheduled to open on July 24, approaching, the Olympic elements can be seen everywhere in Tokyo, Japan.

This is the first postponement of the Olympic Games in modern Olympic history. Looking back at history, the 1916 Berlin Olympics, the 1940 Tokyo Olympics, and the 1944 London Olympics were suspended due to war, but there has never been any precedent for the Olympic Games to be postponed.

One stone caused a thousand layers of waves. Some scholars believe that although the Olympics have to be postponed in the spread of the global epidemic, postponing it to 2021 is against the spirit of the Olympics: Olympiad, which was established in the ancient Greek era with constant city-state disputes (that is, held once every four years) Olympic cycle), even if the modern Olympics were cancelled due to war but still follow this system, how can it be easily broken?

According to the Olympic Charter, the Olympic Charter, the Summer Olympics should be held in the first year of the Olympic cycle, that is, the Tokyo Olympics can only be held in 2020 in principle.

On the 22nd, the International Olympic Committee has stated that it will take four weeks to decide on the Tokyo Olympics. But what surprised the outside world was that the official declaration was postponed for one year in just two days, and the "Olympic Charter", which was deserved to be condemned, had to face amendments.

The attitude of the Japanese government is also interesting. It wasn't until March 23 that Shinzo Abe said for the first time that he would consider delaying the Olympics. Prior to this, the Japanese government had repeatedly made "outspoken words" and repeatedly stated that the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics would be held in full form as scheduled.

However, shortly after the International Olympic Committee issued a statement discussing the hosting of the event on the 22nd, the Canadian and Australian Olympic Committees issued announcements that they would not send delegations to the Tokyo Olympics unless the Olympic Games were postponed for one year. Later, like the dominoes, the National Olympic Committee of the United States, Britain, Spain, Brazil and other countries also publicly expressed their hope that the Olympic Games would be postponed.

Although it is based on athletes' health considerations, such a clever point in time may have the meaning of "stressing". One month ago, Canadian International Olympic Committee member Pound warned of the cancellation or postponement of the Olympic Games, and then another Canadian, Viken Hessel, rebuked the International Olympic Committee for being "cold and irresponsible", and the IOC also " Undercurrent surging. "

In addition, Olympic broadcaster NBC renewed the broadcasting agreement with the International Olympic Committee in 2014, and renewed it at a high price of US $ 7.65 billion until 2032. NBC has long said that the Tokyo Olympics advertising sales have reached $ 1.25 billion, setting a TV advertising record during the Olympics.

At present, the NBA and other North American professional sports league events are likely to be postponed to the end of the year. NBC obviously does not want the Olympics and NBA and other events to be postponed to the end of 2020 at the same time, which will affect ratings and advertising revenue. ".

According to the Tokyo Organizing Committee's budget, the total expenditures for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics are approximately 27.2 billion U.S. dollars. For Japan, which has lost a lot of money, under the premise that the global epidemic situation is uncertain, although the delay may bring economic losses such as increased venue management costs, the extension to next year is still expected to be held by hosting a complete Olympics to guarantee tickets, Income from accommodation and tourism. Accepting an extension may seem like a helpless compromise, but it may be the best solution for Japan itself under the current situation.

However, once the Pandora's Box is opened, some people are worried whether the host country will violate or modify the Olympic Charter in the interest of its own consideration. Japanese macroeconomist Okubo is even more blunt, canceling or delaying will leave a very bad precedent for the International Olympic Committee, and all bidding cities in the future will realize that hosting the Olympic Games has a large number of uncontrollable risks, which will make latecomers Not dare to bid for the Olympic Games easily.

IOC President Bach said that after a telephone conversation with the Japanese Prime Minister, an IOC Executive Committee meeting was held, and the members of the Executive Committee approved the agreement reached by the two, and the decision to postpone was to save more lives. , More details will be explored next. The current postponed program may be a helpless compromise for all parties. (Finish)