BRIAN TYL | Cancel the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo

We are in the midst of a pandemic.

Forget the money, let's think about the human lives and the health of thousands of people that are at stake should the 2021 Tokyo Olympic games go on as planned.

A poll conducted in Japan showed that almost 80 percent of the people believe that the games should be cancelled.

Japan remains under a state of emergency because of COVID-19. Do we really need to send thousands of athletes to Tokyo just for the sake of playing in games?

Japanese safety standards are far different than those safety standards in America. This is one reason why Japan has fared better against the coronavirus pandemic than the United States.

Olympic officials and athletes are not required to be vaccinated in order to enter Japan. They will, however, be severely restricted on where they can go. They can not go to restaurants, popular tourist spots or go shopping. They can not use buses or any other public transportation.

For the Olympic committee to try and create a city bubble that would have to hold thousands upon thousands of athletes, judges, journalists, judges and coaches is a tall order.

COVID-19 has caused many problems at the Australian Open. Over 40 players tested positive, forced to quarantine and could not practice for a couple of weeks. The Australian Open was delayed by weeks.

I am writing about the Australian Open because the problems that arose that were related with the coronavirus pandemic involved far less people flying into Australia. The Tokyo Olympics would see upwards of 20 times the people.

Despite the investment of over 20 billion dollars, Tokyo may have to just take one for the team on this issue. Or perhaps, the countries could pass around a huge collection plate to help. Bidding cities for hosting the Olympic games beware (buyer beware principal).

The Olympics bring people and cultures together. A solution is simple-do the right thing and pull the plug on the Olympics for the sake of humanity and safety.

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