Tokyo 2020 Olympics Aftermath

In closing…

Yuriko: It’s over, ceremony and all. The flame has gone out.

Seiko: I said I would stay until the Olympics had finished. So here we are, the party, or whatever it was, is over.

Real Heroes

Yuriko: So how was it for you?

Seiko: The athletes were, as they should be, heroes. Their stories, the sportsmanship, the kindness, like those two who fell in the 800 meters men’s semifinal and shook hands.

Yuriko: And others who made the games happen?

Seiko: Well, there were no spectators, thanks to the virus. Which leaves the organizing body, the IOC. Put it this way, their motives are questionable. So the games end less in a blaze of glory than into a streaky sunset.

_________

Voice-over

Perhaps the games will open up discussion about the IOC and the media companies. Insisting on a holding them in the middle of the brutally hot Japanese summer to maximize overseas media profits. Not delaying the games despite an explosion of Covid cases within Japan. IOC now has an image of being an undemocratic political and economic force exploiting sportspeople.