Norway, 24 July 2021 – The Olympic games (OL) hosted by Tokyo, Japan which will run from 23 July to 8 August 2021 might end up to be the costliest OL in history, as it has reportedly cost Japan XX billions dollars. Thus, it is understandable how some of the residents there have been protesting about the wisdom of holding the games, when the local government has been relatively slow in rolling out COVID-19 vaccines to its residents. Nevertheless, Tokyo OL 2020 might be the best thing Japan will have delivered to the modern world in the post-World War II and post-COVID-19 eras.
The world´s economy is down, and so does the lives and psyche of many people shocked by the way the COVID-19 pandemic has turned upside down modern life as we have known it, especially in the past two decades. The OL which provides a rich ground for humanity to test, flaunt, and celebrate human skills, willpower, endurance, and indomitable spirit, is something the world needs right now to provide fresh doses of inspiration, positive entertainment, new rays of hope, and strong reminders of the resilience and brilliance of the human body and spirit.
To avert the spread of the COVID-19 virus, including its recent variants, the Japanese government has decided to let the games run without physical spectators in the coliseums and sports arenas. As such, Tokyo OL will be the first of its kind that will rely solely on broadcast- and digital technologies to reach its audience and the world at large. This, for me, is like reading or seeing one of those science fiction works where people watched these kinds of world events via virtual reality (VR) platforms. I have just registered and paid a subscription to Discovery+-TV Norge which won the rights to cover Tokyo OL 2020 for the Norway audience so I could watch the OL events during my free time, which is usually after 4 pm on regular work days. I expect them to deliver an excellent coverage of the OL events and hope they will use robust digital and other virtual technologies to enrich their overall reporting of the events.
Thanks to Japan´s big economy and heart, the world can enjoy watching the Tokyo OL 2020 now.
